Since the end of February, energy price volatility has been seen across multiple fuels, including oil and gas. And, while this volatility is being felt across the board, SMEs – which represent 99.85% of total business population and £2.8Tn in turnover – are being disproportionately exposed, particularly to sharp rises in gas prices.

For many SMEs, energy costs represent a meaningful share of operating expenses, particularly in sectors such as accommodation, retail, and food production. This leaves them more exposed to sudden price volatility, especially when access to tools and finance might be limited.

As costs rise, margins tighten and cash flow becomes less predictable, leading to increased uncertainty for both SMEs and lenders. For financial service providers – with over £68bn in SME lending portfolios – this shapes how risk is assessed and how capital is allocated.

At the same time, SMEs remain difficult to assess due to limited and inconsistent data. Rising uncertainty could push banks to tighten credit conditions across their portfolios, resulting in a feedback loop where SMEs face higher costs and reduced access to finance, while lenders carry greater uncertainty and risk.

Perseus provides a more complete view of energy costs

By expanding to include gas data, Perseus directly addresses this problem. In March 2026, the Perseus scheme began incorporating gas data, supporting calculations of Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 1 (direct) emissions alongside the Scope 2 (indirect) electricity emissions.

Moving beyond electricity to provide a more complete view of SME energy consumption and emissions gives SMEs better control over their energy exposure, while enabling banks to assess risk, verify impact, and finance the transition with greater confidence.

With this expansion, Perseus is estimated to have potential reach of over 1 million UK SMEs and cover over 70% of use cases, reflecting the scale of energy data across organisations.

For more on Perseus gas emissions methodology: https://ib1.org/perseus/emissions-calculations/ 

For SMEs, this means:

• reduced time, cost, and complexity of reporting
• a more complete and credible picture of energy use and emissions
• better access to finance and incentives
• potential for lower cost of borrowing

For banks and lenders, it enables:

• more accurate assessment of SME energy exposure
• improved risk pricing and credit decisions
• comparable, standardised data across portfolios
• the ability to develop targeted financing products linked to energy performance

Renewables over reliance

Reliance on fossil fuels remains a key driver of energy market volatility. It’s not an imagined scenario either, with Reuters recently reporting that wind output in Q1 2026 increased significantly year-on-year, helping to drive a ~16% drop in gas-fired generation. This cushioned the UK from the impacts of the gas price spike and contributed to relatively lower wholesale power prices versus some European peers. 

As more low-cost renewable electricity comes online, reliance on gas, and exposure to its volatility, can be reduced. This means the shift towards a cleaner renewable energy future is more than an environmental move but a financial one too, creating new opportunities for both SMEs and Financial Service Providers. 

While renewables can reduce our reliance on gas, flexibility determines how much of that value can actually be captured. For more on the impact I&C Flexibility can have on renewables take-up and the wider energy market, read our latest blog.

As Perseus co-chair, members, stakeholders, and the broader community tell me that it is seen as a pioneering initiative, with a significant scale of opportunity (at least £5B+ in embedded sustainable finance), but there are still challenges in communicating what it is, and isn’t, and ‘why now?’.

“Collaborate on the rules, compete in the game.”

The course is set, now it’s time to shape how value is realised

Perseus is now recognised as a flagship exemplar under the UK Data (Use and Access) Act, supported by both the Smart Data Council (in its Smart Data Strategy for 2035) and the Net Zero Council. The regulatory current is moving in this direction, and the Perseus team is both in constructive conversations with regulators and code bodies, and at the table in creating the UK Smart Data guidebook. 

Perseus Members are defining where the rules of embedded sustainable finance are being written. The question isn’t whether this infrastructure gets built, it’s who helps shape it, and who arrives late.

To help better position what Perseus is, here are some of my reflections, based on 300+ conversations.

Getting the data to do the work: SME impact at market scale

SMEs are where the impact is needed (they are half of UK business emissions). For the vast majority, carbon reporting is a burden: manual, confusing, inconsistent, and disconnected from anything that actually helps them run their business better. 

Perseus flips this: with the SME’s permission, their energy data flows automatically into their accounting platform and to their lender. No spreadsheets, no data entry, no consultants: they get a verified emissions baseline, access to sustainable finance products they can’t easily reach, and a credible sustainability story they can use with their own customers and suppliers. 

Perseus meets them where they are, through the tools and relationships they already have, and costs them almost nothing to participate. Reducing friction and cost is the point of good data infrastructure, getting smart data to do the work so the SME gets the benefits, and the market gets the scale. 

Perseus is infrastructure, not a product

Most responses to addressing SME carbon emissions follow a familiar playbook: build an app, sign up users, grow a dataset, and sell reporting services. Some go further and package insights as a commercial proposition. Both hit the same ceiling: they create value for their own customers, but they don’t change the market.

“Carbon reporting can often be seen as a random number generator linked to compliance, not value.”

Data silos are no longer business moats

When data stays siloed and calculations stay inconsistent, every bank, accountant, lender, software provider keeps solving the same problem independently, at their own cost. Multiply that across the whole economy and you have a colossal, systemic waste of time and money: with no true comparability, little trust, and no efficiency of scale. As one senior expert put it, “it’s a random number generator linked to compliance, not value“.

“Perseus meets SMEs where they are, through the tools and relationships they already have, and costs them almost nothing to participate.”

Perseus takes a structurally different route (the same route Open Banking took). The design of Open Banking wasn’t to ‘make a better banking app’, it was that if you agree the rules by which data flows between any bank and any third party, every player in the market benefits simultaneously, and the infrastructure becomes self-reinforcing as more join.

Perseus applies exactly that logic to SME emissions data: not a pipe, not a platform, a Scheme. A Scheme is a shared rulebook that defines how the data flows, it is legally permissioned, technically assured, and provenance-stamped between energy data sources, carbon accountants, and lenders, regardless of which specific providers are involved.

Schemes are designed to ‘do as little as possible’ so that the heavy lifting that they do deliver, can deliver at scale. Perseus is not a database, or a calculator, or a portal. Instead it’s the trust layer that makes everyone else’s products work together, enables solutions to go to where the customer already is, and makes them credible due to the governance wrapped around its design.

“Perseus is not a database, or a calculator, or a portal. It’s the trust layer that makes everyone else’s products work together.”

No single organisation can build what Perseus builds collectively

Any carbon accounting platform can reach its existing customers, any energy data business can find organisations already looking for a data feed, any bank can bring these things together, but none of them can, on their own, shift the behaviour of 5.5 million SMEs and the financial system that serves them.

Perseus can because its Steering Group and commercial membership collectively represent the whole system: the banks, accountants, energy companies, trade associations, and SME platforms that already have the customer relationships. The joint communications that can flow from this coalition don’t just amplify awareness, or make ‘business today’ more efficient, it creates an addressable market that didn’t previously exist. By going far together, they can all reach SMEs who have never considered net zero was for them, through channels they already trust: their bank, their accountant, their software tools, and their trade association. Perseus is creating a route to market no individual organisation can replicate through its own sales effort, and this is estimated to be £5B-£10B by 2030 (see 2025 annual report).

Its benefits can compound in both directions: automating data flows that currently require manual effort, reducing the cost of compliance, reducing friction at every point in the chain and building customer trust not for one product, but at market scale.

“Perseus Members are defining where the rules of embedded sustainable finance are being written. The question isn’t whether this infrastructure gets built, it’s who helps shape it, and who arrives late.”

The value case for a Financial Services Provider (e.g. bank, lender)

There are reasonable objections a bank or lender might raise. Right now, Perseus is a UK SME Scheme, not where the biggest financed emissions numbers sit for most large institutions; they may have existing bilateral data arrangements they’re reluctant to revisit; and in a climate where public sustainability commitments are under scrutiny anything that looks ‘new’ can face internal resistance. 

These are valid questions, but they don’t change the underlying logic.

In impact, most initiatives measure engagement, they rarely measure or report on verifiable impact. Perseus enables continuous, assurable measurement, reporting and verification of impact. By harmonising the approach, the reporting is comparable across organisations.

On scale: the UK SME market is not a rounding error but half of all UK business emissions. Any lender with a material SME book has a financed emissions reporting problem that carries sufficient risk to increase their cost of capital. Perseus addresses this across the whole market at once. Perseus Members have indicated that ‘just’ energy (electricity and gas) addresses over 70% of their use cases, and the programme is designed to expand beyond energy based on Member needs (e.g. water). If we go far together, our collective impact is material and meaningful.

On existing bilateral arrangements: Perseus doesn’t replace them, it improves them through harmonisation of approach, liability and technical provenance. Joining doesn’t unwind existing relationships, rather it gives them an additional trust layer, aligned with the Data Act and endorsed by the Net Zero Council.

On the commitment: Perseus is not a ‘climate pledge’, but an action to deliver the data infrastructure for embedded sustainable finance. Operationally, it’s equivalent to joining any financial data scheme – a technical and commercial decision, not a public statement about net zero ambition. It supports diverse go-to-market impact messaging across cost savings, energy efficiency, energy security, net zero and transition planning. It’s not a campaigning approach, but rather a way to deliver measurable value to the market.

“Any lender with a material SME book has a financed emissions reporting problem that carries sufficient risk to increase their cost of capital.”

On governance and legal overhead: Perseus’ architecture is deliberately modelled on Open Banking. Its legal agreements, certificate infrastructure and KYC processes are designed to align with what regulated financial institutions already do (the path through legal and compliance is not trivial, but it is well-trodden).

Ultimately, the financial providers already in Perseus are sitting in the room where the rules of sustainable finance data infrastructure are being written. It is a choice to be a late adopter of a model that Perseus members helped design, for a membership fee and some internal process. The cost of joining later is accepting the rules written by others.

The value case for a Carbon Accounting Providers (whether financial or carbon management)

A CAP might ask: why do we need Perseus? (we already have integrations with energy data providers, have bank and lender customers, and are building the product that does this).

These are fair points, but miss what Perseus is.

“Perseus is not a database, or a calculator, or a portal. It’s the trust layer that makes everyone else’s products work together.”

Every CAP currently solving this problem is solving it alone: each has negotiated its own data access arrangements, built its own ingestion pipelines, made its own judgements about data quality, and written its own terms. The result is a market where every emissions calculation is done differently, every audit trail looks different, and no two outputs are directly comparable. That’s not a CAP problem to fix, it is a market structure problem, and no single CAP can fix market structure.

This has been the case for decades. Now the baseline calculation needs to become pre-competitive infrastructure (co-designed and delivered by the market) so that CAPs can compete on the value they build on top of it.

Collaborate on the rules, compete in the game

Perseus addresses this by establishing a common trust layer (common legal agreements, provenance standards, assurance levels, harmonised calculations) so that data flowing into any Perseus-connected CAP is verified, traceable, and comparable to data flowing into every other. This doesn’t commoditise the CAP’s product, but rather makes the CAP’s product something an SME or bank can actually rely on, report against, and put in front of an auditor with confidence.

On distribution: joining Perseus is not just a technical integration but access to a network of lenders, trade associations and SME platforms that collectively reach the entire UK SME market. This is a route to market no CAP can replicate through its own commercial efforts. Perseus-connected CAPs are not just selling software but access to a trusted, standards-aligned data flow that their competitors outside the scheme cannot match.

On the competitive question: the CAPs already building Perseus integrations reach hundreds of thousands of UK SMEs today. They are not waiting before positioning themselves within it. Waiting until Perseus is ‘already proven’ before engaging will find the integrations, the relationships, and the market positioning is already occupied.

On effort: Perseus adds a compliance overhead, but this is inversely proportional to scale. The cost of integrating once (which can be done in under a month) with a common framework is substantially lower than maintaining multiple bespoke bilateral arrangements as the market grows. Perseus reduces long-run complexity, it doesn’t add to it.

Spend-based estimates or manually uploaded spreadsheets are no longer fit-for-purpose. Perseus provides the foundations that CAPs can build on top of, creates trust, defensibility, reduces long-term costs, increases market engagement and innovation.

To go far, we go together.

Join Perseus today

Date: 26 March 2026 10:00-10:45 GMT

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Laura Townshend, (IB1); Zarina Banu, (Tide)

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims:

1. Update on case studies
2. Discuss upcoming actions
3. Review Vision statement

It was agreed that:

• British Chambers of Commerce, FSB and IOD should be prioritised as strategic targets to help amplify comms due to their credibility, authority and member reach
• The updated Perseus’ vision and mission statement should be approved

It was noted that:

• Innovate Finance’s Global Summit is in April and panel opportunities on sustainable energy featuring Perseus maybe available
• London Climate Action Week takes place in June and IB1 has a cross-sector meetup planned
• One of the members has two potential SME contacts who might be able to contribute, both PR-ready having presented at the Houses of Parliament

It was discussed that:

• The geopolitical context presents a timely opportunity to amplify Perseus messaging, particularly around energy sovereignty, the government’s consideration of decoupling gas/electric price caps, and the cost of living crisis
• Small businesses are being significantly impacted by energy costs, national insurance increases, minimum wage changes and inflation, making Perseus a relevant operational efficiency solution
• In order to achieve amplification, there is a need to identify the right internal spokespeople within steering group member organisations, not just the steering group representatives themselves

Next meeting: Thursday 28 May 2026 10:00-10:45 BST

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat. 

These are confidential to the Advisory Group Members.

Date: Monday 23 February 2026 13:00-15:00 GMT

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Gavin Starks (IB1); Hannah Gilbert (British Business Bank)

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims 

1. Agree on updated vision and mission
2. Understand 2026 roadmap
3. Update on DOC and AG
4. Commit to amplifying case studies
5. Identify funding sources

Summary:

• It was agreed that:
  • Case studies are the critical success metric for 2026. The ambition is to secure at least five examples that demonstrate real-world application.
  • Alignment with the Net Zero Council and the Smart Data Council agenda should continue, positioning Perseus as an exemplar of Smart Data implementation and Net Zero innovation.
• It was noted that:
  • The 2025 AGM reflected strong engagement from key stakeholders and financial service providers (including incumbents NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds and challenger banks).
  • Language has evolved to “embedded sustainable finance”, with continued emphasis on SME impact.
  • Sandbox learnings (AG2) identified and resolved integration challenges (e.g. with certificate authentication, improved documentation and clarity of roles, setup guides, tooling and specifications have been developed in response).
  • Legal updates (AG3) incorporate gas into permission text, clarify CAP-initiated (two-click) and FSP-initiated (single-click) consent journeys; Scheme agreement documentation has been consolidated; changes remain compliant with prior external legal advice.
  • Annual renewals remain the current funding model, with forecast renewals on track but cashflow risk recognised and multi-annual renewals should be considered.
  • The relationship with B4NZ (formerly ‘Bankers for Net Zero’) was recognised as having been supportive in the formation of the programme, and there is no ongoing relationship with that initiative.
  • Adam Jackson has accepted the role of DOC Chair.
• It was discussed that:
  • The proposed new vision, “Embedded sustainable finance for SMEs”, provides a clear and memorable direction of travel. Further refinement of mission language will be considered to ensure terminology resonates with SMEs.
  • The SME focus remains strategically valuable for maintaining clarity and discipline. Discussion included whether anchoring exclusively on SMEs may constrain broader use cases and it was noted that related initiatives (e.g. ib1.org/Orion and ib1.org/carbon-commons) had been created as channels to help develop ideas without distracting from Perseus’ core mission.
  • Case study development faces practical barriers: delays often arise from internal processes and time constraints, rather than inherent SME reluctance. It was noted that the majority SMEs day-to-day concerns are focussed on cash, not sustainability, and that Perseus’ strategy to reduce both cost and friction for SMEs (including ‘taking solutions to where the SME already are’) was the correct approach.

Next meeting: Monday 18 May 2026 13:00-15:00 BST

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat. 

These are confidential to the Steering Group Members.

Date: 10 February 2026 10:00-11:0 GMT

Location: online

Chair: Frank Wales

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims:

1. Summarise Sandbox learnings
2. Feedback from members on Perseus-ready integration
3. Discuss change management best practice
4. Present draft certificate revocation specification
5. Explore workshop topics in 2026

Summary:

It was agreed that:

• Lessons from sandbox integrations would continue to inform incremental improvements to documentation, tooling, and processes.
• Future change proposals would aim to present technical changes more concretely, including clearer linkage between definitive specifications, and registry entries.

It was noted that:

• Four categories of issues had emerged from recent sandbox integrations:
  • Certificate authentication challenges, including confusion around directory usage and certificate expiry on services.
  • Conceptual understanding gaps, particularly around the FAPI 2 security model and Perseus’ role as an enabler of connections rather than a data provider.
  • Areas where documentation required clarification, including subdomain queries, CAP-to-EDP selection, and OAuth flow setup.
  • Technical usability issues with the directory service, including sandbox labelling and endpoint behaviour.
• A range of documentation and support improvements had been implemented in response, including workflow diagrams, role-specific setup guides (CAP and EDP) , a CLI testing tool for EDPs, and a directory usage guide with screenshots.

It was discussed that:

• IB1 recommends a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) approach over OCSP for certificate withdrawal, on the basis of simplicity, lower operational complexity and improved privacy characteristics; we are accepting review and feedback on this until February 27 (see actions)
• Git-based workflows were seen as helpful for proposing and reviewing technical changes (such as API updates), but not sufficient on their own to describe multi-environment availability or long-term governance state.
• Future change proposals could benefit from clearer presentation of “before and after” states, including diffs against OpenAPI specifications, supported by explanatory documents.

Next meeting: Tuesday 28 April 2026 10:00-11:00 GMT

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat. 

These are confidential to the Advisory Group Members.

Date: 9 February 2026 10:00-11:30 GMT

Location: online

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims:

1. Orientate for 2026
2. Agree workshops
3. Review market based carbon accounting concept

Summary:

It was agreed that:

• The primary focus for the year ahead is on concrete customer use cases and case studies.
• Individual follow‑ups will be undertaken with Members to map internal stakeholders and decision‑making processes.
• Each Member will prioritise identification of at least one potential ‘lighthouse’ customer.
• Further work will document and consult on the proposed market‑based emissions methodology, including supporting FAQs.

It was noted that:

• 2026 is the key go‑to‑market period, translating existing technical capability into demonstrable customer value.
• Constructive early conversations have taken place with the Financial Conduct Authority regarding Perseus’ positioning with Smart Data/Open Finance initiatives.
• to broaden scope beyond lending to include savings, asset finance, and other financial products, the phrase “access to finance” has evolved to “financial incentives”
• £5–10bn potential addressable  market is seen as ‘directionally credible’ and indicates substantial value opportunities for all stakeholders.

It was discussed that:

• From an SME perspective, particularly micro‑businesses, sustainability and net zero language has limited traction
• SMEs prioritise cost reductions, operational efficiency, and resilience, with emissions reduction often viewed as a secondary benefit. Perseus’ position as embedded sustainable finance is tactically aligned with this. 
• A key opportunity to increase TAM is ‘taking incentives directly to where the SMEs are’ (i.e. in their accounting and analysis applications) 
• Large financial institutions face material internal constraints, with implementation timelines often measured in years rather than months
• Technology is not the primary blocker; the key gap lies in the business case and incentive structures and this will inform our go‑to‑market approach, and clarity of financial value.

Next meeting: Monday 20 April 2026 10:00-11:30 GMT

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat. 

These are confidential to the Advisory Group Members.

Date: 5 February 2026 10:00-10:45 GMT

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Laura Townshend, (IB1); Zarina Banu, (Tide)

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims:

1. Understand the Perseus 2026 Roadmap
2. Feedback from the AGM
3. Sign off a 2026 comms plan

Summary:

It was agreed that:

• 2026 comms will pivot more strongly to detailed, high‑quality case studies as a central tool to build trust and drive membership, rather than relying primarily on generic messaging or high‑level testimonials.
• The co-chair will share existing best‑practice case‑study and member‑spotlight formats she has developed (at Tide) with the IB1 team to inform Perseus templates.

It was noted that:

• The Perseus AGM was positively received
• The core comms outcomes for 2026 remain: Building trust and confidence in Perseus and making a consistent, compelling case for new and renewed memberships
• The communications plan for 2026 was presented and agreed
• High‑quality, detailed case studies are better suited than broad messaging to demonstrate ease of integration, tangible benefits, and business value.

It was discussed that:

• Perseus’ vision and mission will evolve in 2026, with suggestion by one member that this ought to be amended to also highlight benefits
• New case‑study formats could include a multi‑part journey following one CAP across the year
• Physical/in‑person or live formats (e.g. roundtables, workshops) can generate richer engagement and large amounts of reusable digital content

Next meeting: Thursday 26 March 2026 10:00-10:45 GMT

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat. 

These are confidential to the Advisory Group Members.

At the Perseus 2025 AGM it was reported that Perseus is:

• evolving from ‘financing green’ to embedded sustainable finance creating a potential addressable market of £5-10 billion
• adding gas, extending energy coverage from Scope 2 (electricity) to Scope 1
• estimated, via its existing members, to have potential reach of over 1 million UK SMEs and cover over 70% of use cases
• continuing to advance ‘Perseus Ready’ implementations with commercial members
• running a live sandbox (equivalent to production) for use by Carbon Accounting Providers (CAPs) and Energy Data Providers (EDPs) to develop solutions
• working with Perseus members to develop go-to-market capabilities to support hundreds of thousands of SMEs
• exploring integration with Open Banking to enable cross-sector interoperability
• producing XBRL outputs to enable integration with financial reporting systems
• pioneering the development of a voluntary, cross-sector Smart Data scheme, aligned with the UK Data Act and supported by an openly-licensed digital public infrastructure (DPI) architecture for secure data sharing 

“Perseus makes it easier for everyone to do their carbon calculations properly, and comfortably moves us years ahead of the most stringent proposed updates to the GHG Protocol. This is exactly why Sage intends to roll out a Perseus enabled product to make reporting easier for hundreds of thousands of UK SMEs.”

George Sandilands, Vice President, Sage Earth

From financing green to embedded sustainable finance

For much of the last decade, ‘green finance’ has focused on funding individual projects: a retrofit here, a solar installation there. Important, but limited. 

Perseus marks a shift to something far more systemic: it moves beyond financing green to embedding sustainable finance by integrating trusted, verifiable emissions data directly into everyday accounting and financial decision-making.

This evolution means Perseus can be applied across the whole SME market, not just specialist green products. Rather than expecting SMEs to seek out solutions themselves – something most lack the time or expertise to do – Perseus brings trusted insights to where they are (e.g. inside their existing accounting, banking and carbon applications). 

Perseus can support lending, credit and debit products, and even savings accounts, allowing sustainability performance to be reflected wherever financial decisions are made. The impact on SMEs is significant: personalised insights, lower reporting costs, easier access to capital for energy-efficiency upgrades, and new space for financial innovation. By making sustainability data usable at scale, Perseus aims to help turn ‘net zero’ from a niche ambition into a normal feature of how the economy works.

“As a leading smart data initiative, Perseus is developing guardrails for assurable data to support finance and supply chain decisions towards a sustainable economy.”

Hannah Gilbert, Director of Sustainability, British Business Bank

Please note that throughout this consultation, Icebreaker One uses the terms Open, Shared and Closed data as defined here.

If you have any questions about our submission or require clarifications please do not hesitate to contact us via policy@ib1.org. We have omitted questions which we did not answer.

Consultation response:

18. Please provide any feedback on the proposal to refine the definition of scope 2, to emphasize its role within an attributional value chain GHG inventory and clarify that scope 2 must only include emissions from electricity generation processes that are physically connected to the reporter’s value chain, excluding any emissions from unrelated sources?

This response is on behalf of the Perseus programme’s member organisations. Perseus aims to unlock access to finance that reduces emissions, by automating sustainability reporting for every SME business in the UK. Perseus operationalises one granular use case focusing on the sharing of 30-minute electricity consumption data, which is combined with corresponding 30-minute local grid carbon intensity readings to calculate assurable monthly GHG emissions (See Perseus’ emissions calculations: https://registry.core.sandbox.trust.ib1.org/scheme/perseus/process/emissions-calculations/2025-10-23). The consumption data is sourced from SMEs with either a) a single business premise and a single, unshared smart meter, or b) an account with Perseus member Energy Data Provider that can provide half-hourly electricity consumption data. 

We welcome the GHG Protocol’s efforts to update the Scope 2 guidance. As the grid decarbonises, the current annual, market-wide accounting framework is increasingly insufficient for capturing the reality and complexity of electricity consumption. Perseus is currently UK focused and requires 30-minute electricity consumption and local grid carbon intensity granularity, however, we encourage the protocol to globally require reporting organisations to use the best possible available data. 

The proposal to restrict sourcing to the same “deliverable market boundary” rightly addresses the disconnect where companies claim emission reductions from grids they do not physically use. However, boundaries must be pragmatically defined.

Perseus member companies note that restricting procurement to narrow pricing zones could strangle market liquidity and prevent companies from supporting high-impact projects in adjacent, interconnected grids where decarbonisation is necessary. The final standard should explicitly allow for procurement across recognised interconnected power pools (e.g., EU-wide) rather than strictly enforcing narrow pricing zones.

19. Please provide any feedback on the proposal to clarify the LBM definition to reflect scope 2 emissions from generation physically delivered at the times and locations of consumption, with imports included in LBM emission factor calculations where applicable? 

As Perseus uses location-based method emissions calculations, we will only comment on LBM changes. 

The proposal to refine the Location-Based Method by prioritising a hierarchy of “Local” and “Hourly” data over national annual averages is scientifically sound. It correctly identifies that grid carbon intensity varies significantly by time and place. The administrative burden of the proposals may affect different business structures in quite different ways, potentially introducing new costs to distributed business with sites that are geographically dispersed. We suggest that the potential for an element of aggregation is considered. For example, this could mirror the ESOS model where a relevant proportion of the portfolio is surveyed and information is then extrapolated to the rest of the portfolio.

1. Confirm positions on Greening Finance in 2026
2. Get operational updates
3. Sentiment check on the proposed Executive Summary

Summary:

It was agreed that:

• The shift from financing green to greening finance continues to be the correct framing for 2026 as it broadens the scope beyond green-linked loans to all relevant financial products and services, and better aligns with shifts in language such as productivity, resilience, efficiency and cost reduction.

It was noted that:

• Tony Greenham was thanked for his significant contribution to Perseus as 2025 co-chair.
• Hannah Gilbert, Director of Sustainability at the British Business Bank will take over from Tony Greenham as co-chair for 2026. Hannah brings a strong background in trust-based data sharing from her open banking fintech experience.
• Several financial institutions are moving away from using the term green finance due to policy and market uncertainty.
• The proliferation of third-party emissions datasets carries a risk of poor-quality SME estimates, reinforcing the importance of assurable data.
• The DOC considers project management, financial position and risk controls as satisfactory.
• AG1 segmentation work will both identify data-ready, higher-emitting sectors whilst ensuring that all SMEs are considered, and that language should be aligned with business outcomes and industrial strategy priorities.
• AG2 confirmed that the sandbox is operational, the national risk assessment is complete, and gas-data methodology has been approved. Work continues toward production readiness.
• AG3 & AG5 activity has been minimal as no major legal or policy barriers have been identified. Alignment work with regulators continues.
• AG4 communications will focus on the greening-finance narrative and the upcoming report launch.
• Priorities for 2026 include scheme-as-a-service onboarding, development of FSP case studies, integration of gas data, and progress on consumer consent solutions.

It was discussed that:

• Nature-related factors (e.g. biodiversity, water, land use) are becoming increasingly significant for investors and are viewed as drivers of resilience.
• Scope expansion and interaction with parallel initiatives (e.g. Project Orion) should continue to be monitored.

Date: 4 November 2025 10:00-10:45 BST

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Zarina Banu (Tide); Laura Townshend, (IB1)

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims

1. Agree plan for Perseus report launch and AGM

Summary:

It was noted that:

• This marks a transition from financing green activities to greening finance more broadly — embedding sustainability directly into mainstream financial systems and products rather than treating it as a niche.

It was further noted that:

• Banks are exploring new incentives such as offering higher interest rates on savings or current accounts for SMEs demonstrably working towards net zero, creating a new category of incentive-based finance.

It was discussed that:

• Financial service providers are increasingly recognising the wider potential of Perseus to support both debt and credit finance, and that alignment with the Smart Data Act is encouraging banks to think differently about smart data in finance.
• Terms such as “net zero” and “sustainability” remain politically sensitive, and the narrative should emphasise practical solutions and market transformation rather than ideology.
• The narrative must balance macro and micro perspectives — connecting the large-scale market transformation enabled by Perseus with clear, practical benefits for individual SMEs.
• For many SMEs, accessing finance is not emerging as a primary concern for engaging with sustainability initiatives; rather, their interest lies in ease and simplicity, and saving time. It was noted that positioning Perseus as something that removes friction — automating data sharing, reducing paperwork, and making participation effortless — will resonate more strongly.
• The upcoming Perseus report and AGM communications should position Perseus as enabling a market-wide transformation of the financial system, supported by the visible progress of members and partners.

It was agreed that:

• The communications narrative should evolve to reflect this broader ambition while keeping language pragmatic, low-cost, and focused on productivity, efficiency, and the unlocking of private-sector finance.
• Both levels of storytelling will be needed: macro to convey ambition and system impact; micro to make outcomes tangible and relatable to businesses and partners.
• 2026 AG4 meetings would continue to be on a monthly basis but with ‘permission to cancel’ when prudent.

Date: 27th October 2025 10:30-11:00 BST

Chair: Frank Wales, IB1

Secretariat: IB1

The meeting aims were as follows:

1. Update on Perseus
2. Workshop readout
3. Vote on gas methodology

Summary:

• It was discussed that banks generally expect technology service providers to align with ISO 27001 standards, but it is unclear whether trust services, which do not directly process the data FSPs receive via Perseus, would be held to the same requirements
• It was discussed that documentation must accurately reflect deployed systems.
• It was noted that the sandbox environment is now fully operational, with enhanced error reporting expected in Q4 and deliberate error-state testing to follow
• It was noted that the Centre for Net Zero has a synthetic smart meter data service- https://www.centrefornetzero.org/technologies/faraday. It was agreed that it should be assessed for inclusion in the sandbox in 2026 
• It was noted that external status dashboards are launching shortly
• It was noted that remaining production activities include a third-party security assessment this quarter, activation of live certificate authorities distinct from the sandbox, and performance monitoring once SLA requirements are defined. A community forum for member collaboration is planned for 2026.
• It was discussed that gas methodology approval will require a simple legal change—adding “and gas” to permission text—and that the selected technical approach uses half-hourly gas consumption data with government annual emissions factors.
• It was noted that data provenance for blended electricity/gas reports introduces complexity, as multiple emissions factor sources are required and individual data points will not be tied to specific factors; provenance metadata will document overall sources.
• It was agreed that future considerations include potential specification updates for biogas grid integration (to be reviewed by IB1) and that regional gas grid variations are not yet addressed.
• A vote took place on the “Approval of data specifications for gas consumption and emissions calculation”

SME decarbonisation depends on better data

Accurate Scope 2 emissions data—the indirect emissions from purchased electricity—sit at the heart of SME decarbonisation and green financing decisions. But most Scope 2 calculations rely on crude annual accounting that masks the reality of how electricity grids actually work.

What’s more, electricity demand and renewable generation don’t align neatly across a calendar year – they shift hour by hour. An SME might be using an energy tariff that’s marketed as “100% renewable” on an annual basis while consuming fossil fuel power during winter evenings when solar isn’t generating. That gap matters for real decarbonisation, and it matters for lenders assessing genuine progress toward Net Zero.

Making clean power visible

Matched Energy is an independent, not-for-profit energy transparency initiative. It analyses publicly available data using a peer-reviewed methodology to calculate how well renewable supply aligns with consumption on a half-hourly basis—the finest granularity supported by UK electricity settlement systems.

Their groundbreaking Clean Power Index published on October 27th, puts vital information in the hands of consumers. The index underscores the need for regulatory reform of the existing opaque rules that allow suppliers to make misleading “100% renewable” marketing claims.

This level of precision transforms Scope 2 accounting from an annual figure into something actionable: SMEs can see when they’re actually getting clean power, and lenders can assess the physical reality behind carbon claims.

Open Energy & Perseus

Open Energy is creating a connected web of energy data while Perseus is automating sustainability reporting for UK SMEs in order to unlock access to green finance. At its core, Perseus makes it easy to share accurate, assurable emissions data that sits behind carbon calculations—enabling better analysis, action and impact.

Through this collaboration half-hourly renewable matching data will be integrated with carbon accounting platforms and other interested parties across the ecosystem. It will enable SMEs and their stakeholders to access more granular, assurable data about electricity consumption and its true carbon intensity.

By connecting Matched Energy’s temporal analysis to Perseus’s data infrastructure, we’re creating pathways for carbon accountants, lenders, and corporate energy buyers to make better-informed decisions based on the physical reality of the grid.

“The result of this collaboration is more reliable emissions reporting, better decarbonisation decisions, and stronger foundations for green finance. The data infrastructure already exists—what’s needed is the connection between the systems that hold it. Open Energy is building that connection and we’re pleased to have Matched Energy as part of that effort”. Gavin Starks, CEO, IB1

Date: 8 October 2025 10:00-10:30 BST

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Gavin Starks, IB1; Claire Reid, Barclays 

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims

1. Update AG1 members on recent workshops
2. Sentiment check on market opportunity
3. Sentiment check-in re use case / pilot participation

Summary

It was noted that:

• The Perseus roadmap will work to build from financing green to greening finance, enabling broader market engagement across debt finance and related incentives
• UK green lending is (anecdotally) estimated to be around £1 billion per year, with potential to grow substantially (multiples) with a low-friction, personalised approach (which Perseus helps enable)
• The Perseus Sandbox is now live: vendors can integrate within a single (2 week) sprint
• A briefing on potential corporation-tax incentives is being drafted to open a conversation with HMT
• A conversation has been initiated with the FCA to discuss knowledge-sharing between the development of Open Finance programmes and the lessons-learned through the Perseus programme.

Building on the recent Working Group, Members discussed market segmentation and target focus:

• Build on the British Business Bank baseline/framework example
• Focus on priority intersection: high emitters + data-ready + under pressure to report now [see attached Venn diagram]
• Avoid language that could be perceived as critical of SMEs
• Align with government industrial strategy sectors
• Address positioning, motivations and incentives (e.g. cost savings, efficiencies, net zero)
• Balance the risk of over-narrowing focus to high-emitters only, with long-term impact at scale (e.g. immediate priority is for clear, rapid case studies).

In financial product innovation, it was highlighted that:

• Sustainability-linked loan volumes are stagnating due to high cost and compliance burdens
• Automated reporting can support reducing friction, improve accuracy and unlock growth
• FSPs have indicated that addressing both electricity and gas could address ~80% of their use cases
• EDPs include provisioning of national smart meter programme data as well as data via building management systems (e.g. in corporate real estate)
• A survey was issued to gauge the market opportunity for FSPs.

For use cases and implementation:

• Members agreed the need for published use cases and case studies by year-end
• Two banks are actively developing examples.
• A survey was launched to assess:
  – CAP readiness for sandbox integration, and
  – FSP capacity for case study delivery by December.

Date: 7 October 2025 10:00-10:45 BST

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Zarina Banu (Tide); Laura Townshend, (IB1)

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims

1. Understand what members are currently working on
2. Align on comms moments for the second half of 2025 (H2)
3. Communications for the Perseus end of year report

Summary:

It was noted that:

• Four core H2 comms moments are now underway or imminent:
  
  1. Sandbox announcement (launched the week commencing 29 September).
  2. Ongoing “Perseus-ready” announcements to celebrate participants.
  3. XBRL and potential RECCo announcements to demonstrate Perseus’s integration and future-proofing.
  4. End of year Perseus 2025 report launch (December).

It was discussed that:

• The 2025 Perseus report will act both as a technical update and as a comms tool highlighting the value of Perseus, user stories, and co-creation benefits.
• Members welcomed the concept of a participation summary capturing each organisation’s contribution to Perseus during the year.
• The participation summaries should be member-driven, with IB1 providing structure and visual support.
• Distribution of the end of year report will focus on owned and partner channels (LinkedIn, newsletters, events), not earned media.

It was agreed that:

• IB1 will prepare a participation summary template and draft comms assets
• Members will identify suitable channels to help amplify the December report.
• The November AG4 meeting will finalise the comms plan and confirm each organisation’s contribution.

In December last year, Perseus entered its pilot stage which was launched to gather feedback on the technical, legal and user experience aspects of Perseus. As part of the Pilot, the Development Bank of Wales used Perseus in its due diligence processes for green business loan products.

Today, Perseus has progressed to the launch of the sandbox, which will allow Perseus members to safely and easily experiment with sharing energy consumption data.

How it works

The sandbox uses synthetic energy consumption data, meaning organisations can test and experiment without concerns over personal data. It also provides identical trust services (Registry and Directory) to Perseus in production.  

“Successful integration with the sandbox will make a business ‘Perseus-Ready’ – a sign that they are ready to provide the innovative new services enabled by automated carbon emissions reporting between data providers, businesses, carbon accounting platforms and lenders”.

Chris Pointon, Project Manager, Trust Services.

What does being ‘Perseus-ready’ mean for your business?

For Carbon Accounting Providers:

• First choice for Financial Service Providers seeking market-scale data powered by Perseus.
• First to market with Perseus-enabled products 
• Major visibility to all participating Perseus banks
• On-ramp to real-world case studies, leading to wider sector visibility 
• Prepare your teams, technology and processes to strengthen your competitive advantage
• Opportunity to launch a new revenue stream, and develop new tech capabilities for your business

For Financial Service Providers:

• Test technical processes for ingesting Perseus data 
• Inform product innovation, reporting and compliance
• Build relationships and technical partnerships with potential data partners for new sustainable finance opportunities
• Develop new tech capabilities to build scalable access to sustainability data ecosystem

If your organisation is interested in using the sandbox and becoming ‘Perseus-ready,’ please get in touch via Perseus@ib1.org

Perseus will automate access to assurable SME electricity smart meter data and its carbon intensity at the time and place of use. SMEs will be able to receive emissions reports generated from these data and share them, via reporting solutions, with banks or lenders to unlock green finance.

As described in the 2024 Plan, Perseus members have been working throughout the year to uncover and explore the needs of all stakeholders in the data flow and convert these into concrete actions. These have driven detailed work on legal, technical and user experience design, assurability and process development to enable an operational pilot.

Purpose of the pilot

June marked the end of the six-month pilot phase of Perseus, which was launched to gather feedback on the technical, legal and user experience aspects of Perseus. Part of an iterative process, the pilot focused on reducing friction and enhancing the way Perseus works for SMEs, energy data providers (EDPs), carbon accounting providers (CAPs) and financial service providers (FSPs). 

What did we do?

• Tested the technical, legal and contractual elements of the trust framework.
• Explored whether the onboarding documents were sufficient and useful to organisations joining the Perseus scheme. 
• Checked the assured data flow of electricity consumption and derived emissions between participants.
• Tested the user journey flow, design, product integration and legal agreements with a CAP, an EDP and a FSP. 

How did we do it?

The testing was conducted on a one-to-one basis with participants, and feedback was gathered during calls and/or shared via email.

What did we learn?

Several important lessons emerged:

• SME UX: The overall Perseus user journey could be improved through the addition of simple but effective elements, such as a progress bar, providing the user with support and guidance throughout their Perseus journey. 

• Clarity about who hosts what: Greater clarity is required on which stages of the Perseus journey are hosted by the EDP, the CAP and the FSP and to what extent the host can brand and integrate the Perseus journey stages.     

• Engagement: attempts to engage FSPs during the pilot were not as successful as expected. This was mainly due to key stakeholders’ own constraints, needing to focus on other internal projects and not being able to put their own SME clients forward for user testing. To address this, we reached out to other stakeholders in the wider ecosystem to understand their barriers to participation and engagement and how to overcome these.      

• Onboarding support and guidance: During the pilot we discovered that organisations had more questions when onboarding that we had anticipated. We have since updated the supporting documentation and produced clearer step-by-step guidance, with “readiness” checklists.

• Cloud providers: Members whose servers are hosted by cloud providers had difficulty using private server certificates. We have now modified the technical requirements to enable them to use the same public certificate authorities as they would for any website or web service.

• Liability and data retention: Members’ legal and compliance teams were comfortable joining the pilot because both the pilot agreement and associated data retention requirements were limited to the term of the pilot. This will inform timeframe considerations for production.

• Green Lending Market: An observation from testing the pilot is that the green lending market is not as active as we anticipated for SMEs seeking green loans. However, we anticipate this will evolve as the market develops and more incentives are introduced.

• Trust and clarity: The clarity of definition that the scheme provided proved vital in helping different actors understand their roles and responsibilities.

• Case studies: A lack of engagement equaled a lack of real-life Perseus case studies from participants. As a result, IB1 increased its efforts to conduct stakeholder interviews, focusing on how stakeholders perceive their role and value within Perseus, and how IB1 can support them in becoming early adopters that other organisations can learn from.

• Support and discussion channels: Support channels proved to be a challenge with some organisations finding it hard to use Slack. To provide more opportunities for focussed discussion, we introduced more targeted and frequent working group sessions, with shorter advisory group meetings tasked with decision-making rather than detailed discussion.

• Language: Insight from the pilot emphasised that the language used to describe Perseus needs to be kept simple and appeal to different users. There is a responsibility to encourage SMEs to adopt green finance to help the financial sector deliver net zero and to support CAPs in easily calculating assurable emissions data.

Next steps

Perseus has now progressed to the ‘sandbox’ stage of the project; which officially launched on Monday 29th September. The Sandbox provides identical trust services (Registry and Directory) to Perseus in production, and includes a reference EDP that provides synthetic smart meter consumption data. It can safely be used for development and testing. 

Learnings from the pilot phase have been incorporated into the onboarding documentation. Perseus members are receiving one-to-one support and guidance through the sandbox and are encouraged to showcase their case studies.

The 2025 Perseus Report will be launched at the end of this year and will provide more detail on the Pilot, Sandbox and launch phases.

Data has a huge role to play in delivering net zero by 2050.

Reliable data is vital for verifying that organisations are meeting their sustainability commitments. Investors depend on it to shift their investments towards greener companies, while innovation in energy production will hinge on the smart use of data.

But despite generating huge quantities of data every day, we’re not making the most of it. Take data about companies’ emissions. It’s languishing in spreadsheets, carbon calculators, smart meters and other siloes. Even when organisations do share their emissions data, it’s generally seen as an exercise in after-the-fact reporting.

Databases of low quality, out-of-date information are not a foundation for developing new products or technologies, or unlocking new markets.

When it comes to net zero, data is everywhere, just not where we need it.

At IB1, we don’t try to bring ‘all the data into one place’, as others attempt. Nor do we host data or seek to provide analysis services using it.

Instead, we [orchestrate] [schemes] of [data governance] that enable groups of organisations to share continuous flows of well-structured, assurable data with one another.

Governance

Our focus on [data governance] is driven by the view that making data work harder for net zero isn’t a technology challenge.

Rather than a deficit of data or technologies to manage it, it’s a deficit of effective processes for groups of organisations to come together, cooperate on and set the terms of data sharing that’s really holding us back.

“Incentives in our organisations and society prompt us to beaver away on our own. Collaboration is the catalyst of innovation, [but] we often struggle to practice it when it comes to overcoming complex challenges and making efforts towards positive social progress”. – Miranda Dixon, Brink

As with other collective action problems, only good governance can align fragmented interests, enable collaboration and facilitate shared investment.

In our work, governance is an ongoing process. The execution of this process produces decisions that enable data sharing to take place. In practice, this involves establishing principles, defining clear roles and responsibilities, and agreeing priorities and tasks. It also involves collaborating to create artefacts to express and enforce these decisions, such as legal agreements and technical standards.

We have a particular approach to organising data governance at IB1. We use a tiered system of Steering, Advisory and Working Groups to bring organisations together. These groups work together to agree and adopt:

• User needs & impact: commercial priorities, business cases, and prospective new products and services.
• Technical infrastructure: shared ontologies, APIs, schemas and standards to support data exchange. 
• Licensing & legal: data sharing agreements, modes of redress and liability frameworks.
• Engagement & communications: common language, stakeholder engagement and recruitment.
• Policy: alignment with corporate policy and industry regulations.

Participation in this process can be either voluntary (initiated by the market), or mandatory (demanded by regulators). 

Our approach is inspired by the UK’s Open Banking ecosystem, which enabled data to be shared in new ways across banks and other financial services. It now has 10 million users and is projected to sustain a $12bn market of data-driven products and services. This change has been achieved not by building a big, centralised database of customer banking data, but by governing who should access it and how it should flow. 

Schemes

As well as neglecting governance, attempts to build databases of net zero data fail because they try to be all things to all people.

In a 2024 talk, Building scalable public data sets for scientific innovation, John Wilbanks described how effective data systems generally begin life by addressing a small set of very specific primary uses, before evolving to enable more over time:

“No one has ever built a complex data system by setting out to build a complex data system [from day one]. You build one by answering five questions at a time, using a standards based approach… And then when you’re able to answer twenty, you’ll have a functioning complex data system”.

We agree that specificity is a necessary condition for effective data sharing. We enable groups of organisations to come together around tightly-focused challenges or use cases related to net zero, which we refer to as [schemes].

Our flagship scheme, Perseus, enables small-and-medium sized businesses to share granular emissions data from their smart meter systems with banks and other lenders. By providing lenders with the accurate and assurable data they need, the scheme enables participating businesses to access loans and other finance to help reduce their emissions.

Perseus isn’t trying to cast a net around all sustainability data, or work for every company. It demonstrates how good governance—anchored around a very specific goal —can unlock data from the real economy and put it to use for net zero.

Orchestration

We don’t have a monopoly on this view of data governance. But we think groups of organisations can go further, more quickly with our [orchestration].

We provide and maintain the following Trust Services to enable schemes like Perseus to function:

1. A machine-readable rulebook that codifies how data can be shared within the scheme.
2. An approach for verifying which organisations can take part in the scheme.
3. An open directory of the organisations that have been verified to take part in the scheme.
4. An approach for monitoring and assuring that access to data within the scheme adheres to the agreed rulebook.
5. An open catalogue of the data that is made available within the scheme.

None of the services we provide rely on particular software or a singular technology vendor. What we deploy depends on the needs of the scheme. Data access can be enabled by API, more advanced privacy enhancing technologies… even fax machine. (Although we wouldn’t recommend the latter.) What’s important is that the solution meets our NOVA principles: a Networked, Open, Verifiable Architecture. 

Our non-profit status is another key element of this work. There’s a risk that the direction of data use will be dictated by commercial actors, if schemes are left to the market alone. Our approach at IB1 ensures that no individual or entity can take disproportionate control of net zero data, and that end user needs rather than organisational agendas drive progress.

We’re glad the importance of this orchestrating role is now being recognised. A recent analysis of ‘data spaces’ being built across the European Union found that successful efforts have an independent organisation at the centre:

“It is crucial to have a neutral orchestrator facilitating the exchanges between participants before the operations and governance of a data ecosystem solidifies.

The orchestrator should prioritise use cases, map business value creation, test business models, and set up governance models. During the operation phase, the focus will shift toward onboarding, enforcing the rules, ensuring the governance works as it should, and scaling up”.

Infrastructure for real progress

Making data work harder for net zero ultimately depends on trust, coordination, and infrastructure that works across organisations. 

Ever-bigger, centralised databases won’t get us there. What we urgently need are well-orchestrated schemes of data governance that enable decision grade data to flow.

But making this shift requires resources—and partners.

If you’re working along the same lines, or if you’re looking to fund the infrastructure that underpins real progress on net zero, join us.

Reach out via:  icebreaking@ib1.org

Date: 2 September 2025 10:00-10:45 BST

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Zarina Banu (Tide); Laura Townshend, (IB1)

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims

1. Group is prepared for comms moments in H2
2. Gather feedback on end-of-year report comms and engagement

Summary:

• It was noted that:
  • AG1 approved and the SG discussed and positively received, that Perseus will shift the strategic narrative from “financing green” (focused on a small subset of green-linked loans) to “greening finance” (using Perseus data across FSP solutions) both to broaden impact, the total addressable market, and address shifts in language in the market (e.g. transition finance, efficiency, cost reduction, improved productivity, and enhanced business resilience). 
  • 2026 upcoming activities will focus on making the scheme operational at scale with product enhancements, scope on greening finance, adding gas as a data category, a focus on comms and engagement, and investigation of future scope expansion (e.g. Orion).
  • Perseus will be mentioned within UK Business Climate Hub’s 2025 UK Net Zero Business Census Report – being published 21 October, and will aim to be mentioned in the BBB SME Vertical Report – publication date TBC
• It was agreed that:
  • To showcase the 2025 Perseus report content, IB1 will pull out short form content to highlight Perseus’ users, their story and their benefits
• It was discussed that:
  • The shift to “greening finance” is a strategic shift for Perseus, with the best forum for discussion in AG1, however, it will require a messaging shift to ensure Perseus continues to highlight the benefits for different groups of stakeholders 
  • Upcoming comms moments will include:
    • The sandbox launch announcement focussed on the benefits of engaging,  who is engaging to become ‘Perseus-ready.’ 
    • XBRL integration announcement, highlighting how the alignment with them means Perseus speaks common business reporting language & disclosures
    • Perseus report launch, which will include 2025 progress and the 2026 plan.

Date: 27 August 2025 13:00-15:00 BST

Location: online

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims

1. Shared understanding and alignment of business model and how it will be leveraged
2. Align on language and positioning for financing green vs greening finance

Summary:

• An AG1 vote approved and the SG discussed and positively received, that Perseus shift the strategic narrative from “financing green” (focused on a small subset of green-linked loans) to “greening finance” (using Perseus data across FSP solutions) both to broaden impact, the total addressable market, and address shifts in language in the market (e.g. transition finance, efficiency, cost reduction, improved productivity, and enhanced business resilience). 
• It was discussed that the new Proposed Voluntary SME Sustainability Reporting Standard developed by B4NZ and the Broadway Initiative will be implemented by IB1 as Project Orion. It will connect and build upon Perseus with independent funding and governance that will be designed in 2025. 
• The 2026 business model for Perseus was presented and discussed:
  • Perseus will retain a multi-tiered membership model, with the aim to increase the number of members to drive down individual membership fees
  • The plan is to make the scheme operational at scale with product enhancements, scope on greening finance, adding gas as a data category, a focus on comms and engagement, and investigation of future scope expansion (e.g. Orion).
• The Advisory Group updates noted that:
  • AG1 will now focus on a long-term vision of greening finance, targeting high-impact SMEs, and reframing language to improve engagement. The group endorsed sharing information to aid the estimation of the Total Addressable Market (TAM), discuss potential corporation tax incentives with HMT, and support the greening finance vision.
  • AG2 is transitioning from pilot to sandbox and production phases. AG2 members agreed a revised, simpler approach for technical security certificates better suited to cloud environments, and this will be used in both sandbox and production systems.
  • AG4 has updated the core narrative and language in the customisable media pack (https://ib1.org/perseus/media-pack). Upcoming plans include communications for the sandbox launch and highlighting XBRL integration to demonstrate alignment with standard business reporting.
  • AG3 & AG5 are due to hold workshops in September and AG meetings in October
• The Delivery Oversight Committee (DOC) noted that
  • They are comfortable with the continued management of the project by the IB1 team, and broadly satisfied with Perseus’ financial situation, management, cash flows, risk management, and budgets
  • New risks include:
    • successful mitigation of the risk of dissipation of resources and focus due to the arrival of Project Orion, 
    • monitoring risks that could arise with broadening of the project’s scope from ‘financing green’ to ‘greening finance’.
  • Increased risks include:
    • volatile policy environment, including potential pushback against climate and environmental initiatives
    • managing challenges associated with payment schedules from large companies (and cashflow)
  • J Geldart will be temporarily stepping down as Chair of the DoC. The SG acknowledged his material effort and support to the programme. T Greenham will take up the interim Chair of the DOC for 2025.