You're not alone in being alone
Over 60% of UK companies with mandatory SECR obligations have either one dedicated sustainability person or no dedicated person at all — the responsibility often falls to finance, facilities, or operations. If that's you, the challenge isn't lack of ambition, it's lack of bandwidth. You're expected to collect data from every department, calculate emissions accurately, produce audit-ready reports, set reduction targets, and communicate progress to the board — all while the rest of the organisation sees sustainability as "your job".
Prioritise ruthlessly
The biggest mistake one-person teams make is trying to do everything at once. Start with your mandatory reporting obligations — for most UK companies, that's SECR. Get your Scope 1 and 2 data locked down first, because that's what you're legally required to report. Only expand to Scope 3 once your core reporting is automated and repeatable. Within Scope 3, use spend-based screening to identify your top 3–5 categories rather than trying to get perfect data across all 15.
Automate what you can, delegate what you can't
Invest your limited time in building systems, not doing manual work. Set up automated data feeds from your energy supplier, accounting system, and travel booking platform. Create simple data request templates for site managers that take 10 minutes to complete. Use software that handles emission factor matching and calculation automatically — your time is better spent interpreting results and driving action than looking up DEFRA conversion factors in a spreadsheet.
Build internal champions
The most effective one-person sustainability teams don't stay as one person for long. Identify allies in facilities, procurement, and finance who interact with emissions-relevant data daily. Give them visibility into their department's footprint and frame carbon data in terms they care about — cost savings for finance, supply chain risk for procurement, energy efficiency for facilities. When sustainability becomes everyone's job, your role shifts from data collector to strategic advisor.