Two different questions

Most tenders and customer questionnaires have a carbon section: your emissions, your target, your Carbon Reduction Plan. Our post on writing the climate section of a tender covers those. More and more forms now add a second kind of question, about climate risk: whether floods, heatwaves or the move to net zero could stop you delivering.

The reason is upstream. Large companies must report the climate risks to their business, and their suppliers are part of it. UK SRS S2, published by the government on 25 February 2026, asks for climate-related risks and opportunities and their effect on the company's business model and value chain. Under the FCA's final rules, UK listed companies report against it on a comply or explain basis for accounting periods starting on or after 1 January 2027. A supplier whose only warehouse sits on a flood plain is a risk in that value chain, so the buyer asks. Our post on what UK SRS S2 customers ask suppliers covers the emissions side of the same request.

Do the groundwork first

Every good answer comes from one piece of work: a check of each site's flood and heat risk, written down with the date and the source. Our climate risk assessment guide walks through it, and how to check the flood risk for your business premises covers the flood maps in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It takes an hour or two for a handful of sites, and the same table answers every questionnaire after that.

The five questions you'll see, with model answers

The wording varies, but most climate risk questions are one of these five. The model answers are for an illustrative business with an office, a warehouse and a depot. Replace the details with your own, and keep the specifics: dates, sources, sites and actions are what evaluators look for.

"Have you identified the climate-related risks to your business?"

What they mean: Do you know your physical and transition risks, and have you written them down?

Yes. We reviewed the physical climate risks to each of our three sites in October 2026 using the Environment Agency's long term flood risk service and the Met Office UKCP18 projections, and our transition risks as part of our Carbon Reduction Plan. The main risks are surface water flooding at our warehouse, summer heat in our office, and customer and contract carbon requirements.

"Are any of your sites at risk of flooding?"

What they mean: Which sites, from what, how likely, and what happens to the contract if one floods?

Our warehouse is in an area at medium risk of flooding from rivers (1% to 3.3% chance a year) on the Environment Agency's map, rising with climate change. Our office and depot are at very low risk. Stock at the warehouse is racked above ground level, we receive Environment Agency flood warnings, and our flood plan moves dispatch to the depot within 48 hours.

"How would extreme weather affect delivery of this contract?"

What they mean: A business continuity question with a climate angle.

The service is delivered from our depot, which is at very low flood risk. In heatwaves we move rounds earlier in the day under our hot weather working rules. If a site were out of use, our continuity plan, tested each year, covers moving work to another site and contacting the customer the same day.

"Who is responsible for climate risk in your organisation?"

What they mean: The governance question.

Our operations director owns climate risk and our Carbon Reduction Plan. The directors review both once a year, when the plan is updated.

"Do you report in line with TCFD or UK SRS S2?"

What they mean: Are you a listed or very large company that must, and if not, what do you do instead?

We are not required to report under TCFD or UK SRS S2. We set out our climate risks under the four TCFD headings (governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets) in a one-page summary, which is attached, and publish our emissions and reduction target in our Carbon Reduction Plan.

What not to say

  • "Our sites will not flood." The official maps show area risk, not property risk. Quote the band, the source and the date.
  • "We are TCFD compliant." TCFD disbanded in 2023 and its work moved into the ISSB standards, which the UK adopted as UK SRS. Unless you report under the FCA or Companies Act rules, say you use the TCFD headings, not that you comply.
  • "Climate change is not relevant to our business." A blank or dismissive answer scores nothing. Even an office-based firm has heat, travel disruption and customer requirements to talk about.
  • Generic lists. "Extreme weather could affect operations" says nothing. "Our warehouse is at medium river flood risk and holds all our stock" shows you have looked.

Keep it current

Date every check and look again once a year, or when you open or move a site. The flood maps change: England's moved to the new National Flood Risk Assessment data in January 2025, and the result for some areas changed. A dated table also lets you show progress, such as a flood plan added or a site moved, which is the kind of improvement a buyer can score. For the one-page summary under the four TCFD headings, see climate risk for suppliers: TCFD without the jargon.

How Carbon Recycling helps

The carbon questions next to the climate risk ones are where Carbon Recycling does the work today: your Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions with the UK government factors, a reduction target, and a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan your directors sign off, on every plan. The free supplier questionnaire answer bank fills in model answers to the 20 carbon questions customers ask most from your own figures. The Climate risk add-on, coming soon, adds flood and heat risk for each of your sites, with a climate risk summary you can put straight into a tender.