Last reviewed: 5 August 2026

The short answer

Procurement Policy Note 06/21 (PPN 06/21) sets out the UK government requirement for major public contracts: any supplier bidding for central government contracts worth over 5 million pounds per annum must have a published, compliant Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP).

For an SME bidder, a Carbon Reduction Plan is not just an environmental statement. It is a mandatory pass or fail selection criterion on qualifying tenders. If your CRP is missing, incomplete, or fails to meet the reporting requirements, the contracting authority must mark your submission as non-compliant before evaluating your technical proposal.

Contracting authorities outside central government sometimes ask for a Carbon Reduction Plan on contracts below the PPN 06/21 threshold, as part of their own net zero or social value policy. That is a local decision rather than a PPN 06/21 requirement, and there is no published threshold for it, so read the tender documents rather than assuming one applies.

Getting your Carbon Reduction Plan in place early ensures you do not lose out on high-value public sector opportunities due to administrative non-compliance.

What a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan requires

A Carbon Reduction Plan is a structured, publicly available document that details your organisation’s baseline carbon footprint and the measures you are taking to reduce emissions towards Net Zero by 2050.

PPN 06/21 is government procurement policy rather than statute, but on an in-scope contract it is applied as a pass or fail selection criterion, so in practice it binds. Under its technical standard, every compliant CRP must contain four core components:

  1. Net Zero Commitment: An explicit declaration that your organisation is committed to achieving Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest.
  2. Baseline and Current Emissions: Total emissions reported in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) for both your baseline year and the most recent reporting year.
  3. Emissions Scope Coverage: Full reporting across Scope 1 (direct operational emissions), Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased electricity and heating), and the five mandatory Scope 3 categories.
  4. Director Sign-off and Public Availability: Formal approval by a company director or board member, published on your corporate website, and updated at least annually.

The five mandatory Scope 3 categories

Many SMEs already measure direct fuel consumption and office electricity, but PPN 06/21 requires reporting on five specific Scope 3 indirect emissions categories:

  • Upstream transportation and distribution: Emissions from freight, haulage, and delivery services paid for by your organisation.
  • Downstream transportation and distribution: Emissions from transportation of sold goods and services to end clients or distribution points.
  • Waste generated in operations: Emissions from the disposal and treatment of operational waste, including office recycling and landfill.
  • Business travel: Travel by employees for business purposes in vehicles not owned or directly operated by the company (such as commercial flights, rail, taxis, and personal cars used for business mileage).
  • Employee commuting: Emissions resulting from staff travelling between their homes and their primary workplace.

If a specific category is not applicable to your business operations, you must state “0 tCO2e” alongside a clear, factual justification rather than omitting the field entirely.

How to prepare your CRP without heavy consultancy costs

SMEs often assume that producing a compliant CRP requires spending thousands of pounds on external sustainability consultants. In practice, most small businesses can compile an accurate CRP internally by taking a methodical approach to data collection:

  1. Gather utility and fuel bills: Collect 12 months of electricity bills (kWh), gas bills (kWh or cubic metres), and company vehicle fuel receipts (litres or mileage).
  2. Use official UK conversion factors: Apply the UK Government Greenhouse Gas Reporting Conversion Factors published annually by DESNZ to convert activity data into tCO2e figures.
  3. Calculate travel and commuting: Survey staff to establish average weekly commuting modes and distances, and pull expense records for business rail and flight miles.
  4. Set clear reduction targets: State specific percentage reduction targets over 5-year intervals (for example, reducing total tCO2e by 30% by 2030).
  5. List completed and planned projects: Document practical initiatives, such as transitioning fleet vehicles to electric models, switching office energy contracts to 100% renewable tariffs, or implementing hybrid working policies.

Common reasons tender evaluators fail Carbon Reduction Plans

Public sector buyers check CRP submissions against a strict verification checklist during the selection phase. The most frequent errors that lead to bid disqualification include:

  • Missing mandatory Scope 3 categories: Omitting one of the five mandatory Scope 3 categories without an explicit explanation.
  • Outdated data: Submitting a CRP that has not been updated within the last 12 months.
  • No director sign-off: Failing to include the name, job title, signature, and date of approval from a company director.
  • Unreachable URL: Providing a link to a website page that is broken or password-protected.
  • Vague targets: Writing aspirational statements without numerical carbon baseline figures or defined target dates.

Using automated compliance checking before submission ensures your CRP contains all required fields, correct conversion methodology, and valid public links before your bid reaches the evaluator.

Frequently asked questions

What is PPN 06/21 and when is a Carbon Reduction Plan required?

PPN 06/21 is a UK government Procurement Policy Note requiring suppliers bidding for central government contracts worth over 5 million pounds per annum to publish a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP). Contracting authorities outside central government sometimes ask for one below that threshold under their own net zero or social value policy, which is a local decision rather than a PPN 06/21 requirement.

What must a compliant Carbon Reduction Plan include?

A compliant CRP must detail your organisation’s commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2050 (or sooner), report baseline and current greenhouse gas emissions across Scope 1, Scope 2, and five mandatory Scope 3 emissions categories, outline specific carbon reduction projects, and be signed off by a director and published on your website.

Which Scope 3 emissions categories are mandatory under PPN 06/21?

PPN 06/21 specifies five mandatory Scope 3 categories: upstream transportation and distribution, downstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, and employee commuting.

Can an SME bid for public contracts without a Carbon Reduction Plan?

If the tender falls under PPN 06/21 (central government contracts over 5 million pounds) and you do not provide a compliant CRP at the selection stage, your bid will be marked as non-compliant before technical evaluation. For contracts below the threshold, a buyer may still ask about carbon reduction under its own environmental or social value criteria, so a current CRP is useful evidence even where PPN 06/21 does not bind.

Sources

Check the plan before the buyer does

A Carbon Reduction Plan usually fails on a missing field rather than on its arithmetic: an unstated Scope 3 category, an absent director sign-off, a link that does not resolve. CrowMark for Suppliers checks a response against what the tender documents actually ask for, and shows you the wording each check was read from.

See CrowMark →