A £105 Billion Sector That Needs the Profession to Step Up

The UK’s net zero economy generated £83.1 billion in gross value added when the ICAEW published its analysis in October 2025. By the June 2026 CBI update, that figure had risen to £105 billion. The sector supports 1.1 million full-time jobs, with growth concentrated in Scotland, the North East, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and the Humber.

The opportunity for the accounting profession inside that growth story is specific and largely unrealised. SMEs account for thirty-seven percent of UK greenhouse gas emissions. There are millions of them. Most have never started a sustainability journey. Most think their individual contribution is too small to matter. The accounting profession is the most natural entry point for changing that at scale.

And here is the useful part: accountants already hold most of the data they would need to start.

Calling It Resilience, Not Sustainability

Harriet Hodgson-Grove is Audit Partner and National Head of Sustainable Business Services at UHY Hacker Young, where she has spent almost fifteen years building expertise at the intersection of audit rigour and sustainability reporting.

She has learned that what works in practice is often not what you expect. Early attempts to frame sustainability as a moral imperative produced limited traction with clients. The reframe was deliberate.

“We’ve flipped what we’re talking about,” she said. “Call it resilience. Don’t call it sustainability.”

The point is not deception. It is that climate risk, energy cost reduction, and supply chain resilience are things business owners already care about. Embedding sustainability through those frames gets it into the room without the political freight the word sometimes carries. Harriet calls it stealth sustainability. She says it works.

Scope One and Two Are Already in the Accounts

The structural advantage the profession holds is straightforward. Accountants collect the financial data of their clients as a matter of course. Energy spend, motor fuel, business travel costs: these are already on the invoices. A basic spend-based analysis can produce a reasonable Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions estimate without any additional data collection.

“To do their basic Scope 1 and Scope 2, their direct and purchased emissions, we have all of that data already,” Harriet said. “We’re collecting it to be able to do their accounts.”

The better version uses activity data: actual kilowatt hours rather than spend, which is distorted by price fluctuations. Harriet notes that AI tools can scrape invoice data to extract activity numbers quickly, making the transition from spend-based to activity-based analysis faster than it once was. But the spend-based version is good enough to start. It can be done now, for every SME client, as part of the management accounts process.

That is Harriet’s ambition at UHY Hacker Young: make Scope 1 and 2 calculation standard across management accounts. Not a bespoke sustainability service. A baseline that appears routinely alongside the financial numbers.

Building the Confidence to Have the Conversation

The main thing standing between the profession and this opportunity is confidence rather than capability.

Many accountants hesitate to initiate climate conversations with clients because the topic feels outside their established expertise.

“It’s a bit like imposter syndrome,” Harriet said. “They don’t want to launch into a conversation about climate-related risks without having the full facts.”

That hesitation is understandable. It is also, she argues, the thing most worth addressing. The internal education programme she is running at UHY Hacker Young is designed precisely for this: building enough confidence across the firm that sustainability conversations become routine client touchpoints. The goal is not a handful of specialists. It is a profession-wide shift in what an accountant considers part of the job.

SMEs, for their part, do not always know to ask. When an accountant opens the door, the response, she says, is consistently positive.

“Like, how else can you support us in this? Could you look at a carbon reduction plan?” The demand is there. The profession is learning to meet it.

What 2030 Could Look Like

Harriet’s five-year picture is specific and optimistic. Scope 1 and 2 embedded in management accounts as standard. Climate risk woven into audit conversations from the first client meeting. Carbon reduction plans and transition plans following naturally from baseline measurement.

“If we had all SME businesses beginning that journey now, imagine what a difference it could make by 2030.”

The net zero economy is growing despite political headwinds, not because of policy certainty. The accounting profession has an entry point into the SME decarbonisation challenge that no other professional service has. The data is there. The client relationships are there. The professional credibility is there. What is being built now is the confidence to use all three.