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.

• twenty interoperable Smart Data schemes by 2035
• £36m of Industrial Strategy investment
• cross-sector Trust Frameworks and data sharing interoperability across the economy

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-data-strategy

For IB1, this is core to our work – and features the Perseus programme. It underpins how we will help deliver our sustainable economy into a data-enabled digital-first era, building the load-bearing foundations for trust, protecting our data rights, and delivering impact.

Open Banking took a decade to get right: we can now move much, much faster. The opportunity isn’t just ‘switching’, it’s opening up new markets and connecting financial flows to real-world outcomes at scale. The time to engage is now: the schemes being shaped today will define the data infrastructure of the next decade.

The UK has a great team helping to lead this, with Samantha as co-chair, the Department for Business and Trade (Siobhan, Agnieszka, Priya, and a growing support team), and non-govt Smart Data Council members including Henk, Adam, Liz, Charlie, Marie, Chris, Ezechi, Ghela, Helen, Joe, Josh , Louise, Maria, Nicola, Stephen, Jane, Lucy, Sue and many others across industry and government now engaged.

At Icebreaker One it’s what we’ve been building with IB1 Open Energy Perseus, STREAM and our Data Infrastructure work and we will continue to lead on Open Sustainable Finance.

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

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.

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.

We spoke with Pierre Tabet, Founder and CEO of Voltview, about how the company began, the growing role of smart data schemes like Perseus, and Voltview’s contribution as part of the Perseus technical advisory group. We also explored how banks, eager for more accurate data to strengthen their ESG reporting, are likely to see Perseus as a critical enabler.

Ross: How did Voltview begin? 

Pierre: So, I started Voltview just over two years ago. I’d always been interested in the energy sector, having previously worked as a back-end engineer for an energy management company. When I moved back to the UK, I knew I wanted to stay in that field.

At the time, I began speaking to business owners who were unknowingly in the middle of the energy crisis. Many were still on fixed contracts, but when their renewals came up, their bills more than doubled. Hospitality businesses were hit especially hard because of their high energy consumption. For example, one fish and chip shop I spoke with saw annual bills jump from around £10,000 to £35,000. That kind of increase can threaten the viability of a business.

We saw huge pressure on SMEs, and I realised that’s where Voltview should focus. Early on, I had conversations with Smart DCC, who pointed me towards a government grant for smart tariff comparison in the non-domestic sector. Now, we just missed out on getting that grant, but we were still interested in the space. And from there we pivoted slightly.

Rather than just offering comparisons, we wanted to combine switching with retrofits, so businesses could save on tariffs and reduce consumption. Think of it like Booking.com: when you book a flight, they also suggest hotels, car hire, or insurance. But in energy switching, businesses never get offered solutions like heat pumps, EVs, or electrification measures, even though the data used for switching could easily support those recommendations. With reforms like market-wide half-hourly settlement, that data is more valuable than ever. It felt wasteful for switching to end with just a new tariff, when it could instead trigger bigger energy and cost-saving changes.

Ross: This makes a lot of sense to me. Especially now, what with rising energy costs. It reminds me of Open banking and how it opened up consumer choice. How do you ensure the data accuracy and transparency when you’ve got these tariff comparisons? 

Pierre: Open banking is a great comparison as it allows you to share financial data with authorised third parties, who then provide tailored services. As I’m sure you know, the government now wants to replicate that model in energy, having passed the Data Use and Access Act. 

This is especially relevant in the commercial sector- currently about 80% of UK commercial buildings aren’t compliant with the EPC B rating required by 2030. Non-compliance could mean fines. To address this, businesses need access not just to energy data but also building data, credit scores, financial history, everything required to prioritise and fund retrofits.

What’s really cool now is, a lot of the administrative work which took up a lot of energy consultants’ time, can now be done with AI, so that they’re only working on sort of the high value work.

Ross: That’s really interesting. How exactly can EPC data be linked to financial impact? Is there a link to green mortgages here, in a similar vein to SME emissions data being linked to green finance with Perseus? 

Pierre: Absolutely. Perseus is a great example and we’ve been lucky to contribute on the technical side. It provides a trusted way to share Scope 2 emissions data with banks, who in turn reward businesses with lower interest rates.

The bigger picture here is increasing electrification. In the UK, only about a quarter of energy use is electricity, compared to roughly half in Norway. To close that gap, we need incentives  like cheaper capital for retrofits, particularly for SMEs. Many owners are busy running their businesses, so making retrofits easy is critical to driving uptake.

Ross: And so you’ve got EPC data, half-hourly meter data, and financial data – how hard is it to bring all that together on one platform?

Pierre: It is challenging. Only about 60% of UK business meters are smart compared with roughly 95%+ in some European countries, so many firms are effectively flying blind. The first hurdle is getting half-hourly data; the second is aligning it with building and financial data. We start with specific use cases and design the simplest possible customer journey around them.

Ross: Very cool. And as you mentioned, the Data Use and Access Act should hopefully accelerate this work and smart data schemes like Perseus. I also saw on your website that your clients save 17% on energy bills. Can you share an example of this?

Pierre: Sure. Savings usually come from two areas: matching clients with tariffs that suit their load profiles, and cutting waste. One example was a restaurant kitchen where the ventilation system was switching on at night. The owners had no idea until we flagged it with half-hourly data alerts. Fixing that single issue accounted for about a third of their total savings. So really the savings are already in the data- you just need the right tools to uncover them.

Ross: Let’s dig into Perseus a bit more. How have you found being involved in its development?

Pierre: It’s been a great experience. We’re part of the technical advisory group, which has focused on making Perseus trustworthy, scalable, and incredibly easy for users. Ultimately, it’ll be as simple as ticking one box. In December, when Perseus trialled the process manually, it gave us confidence in how it can work at scale. We’re now about six months away from real-world rollout, and we’re excited to integrate it into our ecosystem.

Ross: And what would that integration look like for Voltview?

Pierre: It might not sit directly on our platform. We may simply guide clients to enable it through their accounting software. The point is that all our customers gain access to cheaper capital for retrofits, regardless of where they switch it on.

Ross: Do you think financial institutions are ready to adopt Perseus and scale up green finance for SMEs?

Pierre: Increasingly yes, the real bottleneck is data quality not intent. Almost half of FTSE 100 companies have had to restate climate metrics every year, mostly due to emissions in their suppliers. Banks and lenders want more reliable data to strengthen their own ESG reporting and sustainability-linked products. Perseus helps by providing verifiable upstream data so there is less estimation, fewer restatements and more confidence to deploy capital.

Ross: Great. To wrap up, what’s next for Voltview?

Pierre: We are nearing the end of the Smart Data Challenge funded by the Department for Business and Trade. The challenge has been to incorporate more cross-sector data into our platform. Our next step is to launch use cases that almost any SME can tap into by sharing their energy, building and financial data. We will announce these later this October as we complete the Smart Data Challenge.

So what is a smart meter?

A smart meter is a device that records and transmits your utility usage directly to your supplier, while also giving you insights into your own consumption. Most people are familiar with these household energy smart meters but much less so with water smart meters, which differ significantly in their design, purpose, and implementation. 

Not all smart meters are created equal

Smart water meters record a household’s water use and automatically send this information to the water company. According to Anglian Water, they can help customers detect leaks early, monitor their consumption, and receive alerts if their bill is unusually high. And, by encouraging more efficient water use, smart water meters play a valuable role in helping the UK move toward its net zero goals.

However, compared to energy smart meters, water smart meters typically offer less granular data and limited historical records – factors that can reduce their overall impact. You can explore the key differences between the two systems in the table at the bottom of this page.

Why does the Water Sector matter for net zero?

The water sector is an energy intensive one. In fact, the movement and treatment of water is said to create around 3 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. This is because every time someone uses water, whether it’s turning on a tap, flushing a toilet, or doing laundry, energy is used to pump and treat drinking water, distribute it through the network, collect and treat wastewater. 

The more water we use, the more energy is needed, which leads to higher carbon emissions. And, we’re seeing a rising demand and consumption of water in the UK, with seven regions in England on track to become severely water stressed by 2030. If we are to reach our net zero targets, curbing our water consumption and preventing water wastage, should be top of the agenda. 

What can we learn from energy smart meters? 

While the water sector faces its own unique challenges, it can draw valuable lessons from the energy sector’s experience with smart meters. The rollout of energy smart meters is further advanced but has not been without difficulties – ranging from incomplete deployment to inconsistent functionality. Both the successes and the setbacks in this journey could provide the water sector with a useful blueprint to follow.

These lessons also hint at a larger problem that the technology itself isn’t enough. To fully unlock their benefits (whether in energy or water) we need a way to make smart meter data more accessible, usable, and secure.

That’s where smart data schemes come in. And, propelled by the recent passing of the Data (Use and Access) Act, smart data schemes could unlock the value of smart meters, paving the way for a much smarter energy system. 

But what exactly is a smart data scheme?

A smart data scheme is a framework that enables secure, customer-authorised data sharing between organisations. It supports Smart Data, which is “the process of sharing customer data, upon a customer’s request, with authorised third parties in a secure way. The term ‘Smart Data’ is often used interchangeably with ‘open X’, where X is banking, finance or any other sector”. (Department for Energy Security & Net Zero)

A prime example of a smart data scheme, already in action, is Open Energy. You can think of Open Energy as a smart data scheme, like Open Banking, but for the energy sector. It allows consumers and innovators to securely access and share energy data – unlocking better services, smarter tariffs, and encouraging more sustainable behaviour. 

To learn more about our work in Open Energy follow this link: https://ib1.org/energy/uk/ 

What’s the connection between smart meters and smart data schemes?

To put it simply: smart meters are the source of the data but smart data schemes are the key to creating meaningful impact with this data. 

“These meters create datasets that could accelerate energy efficiency and help encourage sustainable behaviours, but the data is currently challenging to access. With the ability to see exactly how much energy they use and when, consumers can optimise their habits and take advantage of smart tariffs that incentivise energy use during off-peak periods. This creates immediate financial benefits for households and drives the adoption of “smart” energy systems across the country. 

A Smart Data framework leveraging Smart Meter data could amplify these benefits by accelerating the use of flexible energy tariffs and technologies. Empowering consumers with real-time energy insights ensures that the transition to clean power is not just a policy objective but a grassroots movement supported by informed citizens.” Startup Coalition and TBI project – Smart Data Report.

Smart Data in action

A live example of a cross-sector smart data scheme is our Perseus project, which connects half-hourly smart meter data – with permission from SMEs – to the financial sector. This helps to unlock green financing from banks to accelerate SME decarbonisation efforts. In other words, it links real economy data to the financial economy through a smart data scheme. 

“Our work in Open Energy has led, directly, to initiatives like Perseus which is taking smart meter data, with permission from SMEs into the financial sector. It is Data Act ‘ready’ and I believe is the first national cross-sector Smart Data Scheme in the country” Gavin Starks, CEO, IB1. 

If you’re interested in being part of a smart data scheme, whether its Open Energy and Perseus, then please get in touch via: icebreaking@ib1.org 

Similarities and differences between household energy and water smart meter systems 

Date: 24 July 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. Vote on proposed directions
3. Update members on plans for the next quarter

Summary:

• It was noted that:
  • Since the last AG1 meeting, we held two Total Addressable Market (TAM) focussed workshops to:
    • determine the TAM
    • discuss the change of vision to be ‘greening finance’ from financing green to expand the financial offerings Perseus is able to impact 
    • Shaping a message for the Net Zero Council 
• It was voted that a quorate of attendees:
  • would be happy to supply UK Finance (or similar) with information (anonymised if required) to help them estimate the TAM.
  • Supported the Perseus Steering Group (and Delivery Oversight Committee) to approach/discuss tax incentive approaches with HM Treasury.
  • Agreed with the long-term vision to transition to “Greening Finance” as a more expansive approach encompassing all business accounts rather than “Financing Green” focusing only on green lending.
• It was noted that:
  • More case studies demonstrating the value and impact of using Perseus with financial products are essential
  • Progress is being made to include gas, with only minor amendments to the existing process being required
  • IB1 is in conversation to implement the Proposed Voluntary SME Sustainability Reporting Standard (codename: Project Orion)

Perseus is supporting UK SME decarbonisation efforts by unlocking green finance from banks and lenders. It does this by automating access to assurable data to support lending decisions and related sustainability reporting.

In this episode, we speak with Tony Greenham, Managing Director of Sustainability at the British Business Bank to hear his insights on the role of finance in accelerating SME decarbonisation.

00:00 – Intro to British Business Bank – Role, funding impact, focus on businesses outside London.

03:00 – Small Businesses & Net Zero – Why SMEs are essential for meeting climate goals and the challenges they face.

05:00 – Carbon Reporting & Costs – Viewing carbon as a business cost, importance of measuring, and not letting reporting block action.

07:45 – UK Industrial Strategy – £4bn Industrial Strategy Fund and priority sectors, including clean energy and agritech.

10:10 – Project Perseus – Making emissions measurement simple (starting with electricity) and potential expansion to other inputs.

14:55 – Demand for Sustainability Data – Banks, investors, and corporate supply chains using data for financing and contracts.

17:43 – Political Climate & Long-term Investment – Navigating net zero backlash, focusing on commercial benefits, and future-proof investing.

Date: 8 July 2025 10:00-10:45 BST

Location: online

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

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims

1. Share updates on what we’ve communicated in the last month 
2. Agree key communications points for next two months 
3. Update on updated comms materials and policy positioning work

Summary:

• It was noted that:
  • Perseus had strong visibility during London Climate Action Week, with multiple partners referencing it across events including Reset Connect and the B4NZ SME Voluntary report standard launch.
  • There is a growing interest among carbon accounting providers and related tech firms in Wales after publicity of DBW’s Pilot participation.
  • A refreshed media pack (slides and talking points) is now live, including simplified visuals and more narrative-friendly messaging
  • The Perseus Sandbox will launch by Q4, enabling technical testing with synthetic data and to get members “Perseus-ready”
• It was agreed that:
  • Core messaging which displays the value of participating and sharing data through Persus includes:
    • The value of open standards, as opposed to individual action
    • The longer-term market transformation vision and future proofing
    • The trust and momentum built through collective action
  • The Sandbox launch and subsequent announcements of ‘Perseus-ready’ partners provide two strong communications moments.
  • A short piece of work will be undertaken by the Political Working Group to surface common policy positions, with an emphasis on visibility, transparency, and finding common ground
  • The monthly 45-minute cadence of these AG meetings is preferable to the previous quarterly format and helps participants stay engaged and proactive.
• It was discussed that:
  • Working in a consortium like Perseus is key as it shares accountability, increases trust, and reduces risks
  • Upcoming events like Climate Week NYC and Climate Week 2025 in Milan, as well as UK industrial strategy consultations, may offer further hooks to spotlight Perseus.

Date: 1st July 2025 11:00-11:30 BST

Location: online

Chair: Frank Wales, IB1

Secretariat: IB1

The meeting aims were as follows:

1. Update members on technical development and FSP technical requirements

Summary:

• It was agreed that AG2 is moving to a new format with shorter, more focused meetings, supported by separate, in-depth workshops for detailed work
• The standing request for a volunteer to act as an external co-chair was noted
• It was noted that the pilot phase, focused on gathering feedback on the permissions process and onboarding is complete and key learnings will be synthesized into a report
• It was noted that an informative workshop on FSP requirements for technology integration had taken place just prior to this meeting, and that the information gathered will help shape the trust services necessary for Perseus in production
• It was noted that a key priority for Q3 is to launch a sandbox environment
  • This marks the transition into the “Live Ready” phase to prepare a live production environment 
  • The sandbox environment will be functionally identical to the production environment but will use synthetic data to allow for risk-free and confidential integration and testing
    • Feedback from the workshop on FSP technical integration requirements noted the high value placed on a sandbox environment for testing, verifying solutions and identifying problems before going live 
• It was noted that a change to the technical standards was proposed to lower the barrier to entry for participants 
  • A briefing document with the draft technical specification will be circulated for review and feedback.
• It was noted that members were encouraged to use the Slack channel to communicate between workshops and meetings

Next meeting: October 2025

Formal records are maintained by the secretariat. These are confidential to the Advisory Group Members.