The PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan: what it must contain
Procurement Policy Note 006 makes a published Carbon Reduction Plan a condition of bidding for central-government contracts with an anticipated value above £5m a year, including VAT. Many other public bodies and large private customers ask for the same plan voluntarily, so in practice the tender that first demands one is rarely the last.
Published 18 September 2026.
The required content
- A commitment to achieving net zero by 2050
- Baseline emissions for a stated baseline year: Scope 1, Scope 2 and five Scope 3 categories — business travel, employee commuting, waste, and upstream and downstream transport (categories 6, 7, 5, 4 and 9)
- Current-year emissions on exactly the same basis
- Reduction targets with a credible route to them
- Carbon reduction projects, completed and planned
- A declaration signed off at board level, with the plan published on your website and updated annually
Scope 3 categories 1 and 2 — purchased and capital goods — are voluntary for the plan. Emissions are calculated to the GHG Protocol using the government conversion factors. The plan sits on the government's template, and the declaration wording is prescribed: take it from the current version of the template, not from another supplier's plan.
What the plan does not need
Third-party verification. The PPN requires board sign-off and publication on your website — a buyer checks the plan exists, is on the template, is signed, covers the required scopes and is dated within the year. Nobody needs a licence or qualification to prepare it. What it does need is evidence behind every figure, because a buyer can ask, and because next year's update starts from this year's working papers.
The data, and where it already is
Gas and electricity come from supplier invoices or half-hourly data; fleet fuel from fuel-card exports; business travel from expenses and the travel agent's report; commuting from a short staff survey; waste from the contractor's annual statement; freight from haulier invoices. For most mid-sized companies the collection is a week of chasing, not a quarter of consultancy — and if you report under SECR, part of it is already in your working papers.
Build the plan from your own records. Enter last year's meter, fuel, travel and waste data in a free account; the plan is generated in the required structure with every figure traceable to its source, ready for the board to sign.
Start your plan free or check whether PPN 006 applies to your bid
Sources
- Procurement Policy Note 006: taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans (gov.uk)
- Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors (gov.uk)
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