Is a Carbon Reduction Plan a legal requirement?

Not in general law. It is a condition of bidding: central government buyers must ask for one on contracts above £5 million a year under PPN 006, and the NHS asks for one on larger contracts and all NHS Supply Chain tenders. Many councils and businesses ask for one too.

Does a Carbon Reduction Plan need to be verified?

No. PPN 006 needs board approval and a director's signature, not independent verification or audit. The figures must use the UK government's conversion factors and follow the GHG Protocol.

Can I write my own Carbon Reduction Plan without a consultant?

Yes. Many SMEs do, with a spreadsheet or software. You need a year of energy, fuel, travel, commuting, waste and freight data, the government conversion factors, and a director to approve it.

How often does a Carbon Reduction Plan need updating?

At least once a year. The technical standard asks for it to be reviewed and updated within six months of the end of your financial year, with new board approval.

Can carbon offsets count towards my reductions?

No. Report your actual emissions. You can mention offsetting separately, but a buyer will look for real reductions against your baseline year.

What replaced PPN 06/21?

PPN 006, for procurements under the Procurement Act 2023 advertised on or after 24 February 2025. The content of the plan is largely the same; many websites still link the old note.

Does PPN 006 apply in Scotland and Wales?

PPN 006 is for UK central government bodies. Wales has its own version, WPPN 006, and Scottish public bodies set their own climate requirements, so check each tender.

Carbon Reduction Plans and PPN 006: the complete UK guide

A Carbon Reduction Plan is a short public document, required under PPN 006 for UK government contracts worth more than £5 million a year, that reports your Scope 1, Scope 2 and five Scope 3 emission categories and commits you to net zero by 2050. A director signs it, it goes on your website and you update it every year.

Updated 2 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures use the official UK government conversion factors and are checked against the current gov.uk guidance.

Who needs a Carbon Reduction Plan?

Under Procurement Policy Note 006 (PPN 006), central government departments and their agencies must ask bidders for a Carbon Reduction Plan when a contract is worth more than £5 million a year including VAT, where it is relevant and proportionate. PPN 006 applies to procurements under the Procurement Act 2023 advertised on or after 24 February 2025, and replaced PPN 06/21.

In practice far more businesses are asked for one, because other buyers have copied the format:

Buyer	What they ask for
Central government, contracts above £5m a year	A PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan, as a condition of selection
NHS, contracts above £5m a year	A Carbon Reduction Plan; from 1 April 2027 it must cover global operations and all relevant Scope 3
NHS, contracts of £5m a year or less	A Net Zero Commitment, or a Carbon Reduction Plan
NHS Supply Chain frameworks	Evergreen Level 1, which includes a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan, from 6 April 2026
Councils, housing associations, universities, large companies	Often a PPN 006-style plan, even on small contracts

If you sell to the NHS, our NHS supplier checker tells you which of these applies to you.

What goes in a Carbon Reduction Plan?

The government publishes a template. Following its order makes your plan easy for an evaluator to check:

Commitment to achieving net zero. A statement that you are committed to net zero by 2050 at the latest for your UK operations.
Baseline emissions footprint. Your emissions in a baseline year: the year you first measured, or a typical year if that one was unusual. Explain why you chose it.
Current emissions. Your most recent full year, in the same categories as the baseline, in tonnes of CO2e.
Emissions reduction targets. Where you expect emissions to be in future years on the way to net zero.
Carbon reduction projects. What you have already done since the baseline, and what you plan to do next.
Declaration and sign-off. Confirmation that the plan follows PPN 006 and the technical standard, approved by your board (or equivalent) with the date, and signed by a director.

Which emissions must it cover?

All of Scope 1 and Scope 2, plus five of the fifteen Scope 3 categories in the GHG Protocol. The figures must be in tonnes of CO2e and use the UK government's conversion factors.

Scope	What it means	Typical sources for an SME
Scope 1	Fuel you burn and gases you release	Gas boilers, company vans and cars, heating oil, air conditioning leaks
Scope 2	Electricity and heat you buy	Electricity bills for every site
Scope 3, category 4	Upstream transport and distribution	Couriers and hauliers delivering to you
Scope 3, category 5	Waste from your operations	General waste, recycling, food waste
Scope 3, category 6	Business travel	Trains, flights, hotels, mileage in employees' own cars
Scope 3, category 7	Employee commuting	Staff travel to work, and homeworking if you include it
Scope 3, category 9	Downstream transport and distribution	Delivering your goods to customers when they pay for it

A worked example

A 25-person facilities company with one office, six diesel vans and a contract cleaning team might find something like this for its first year. Use our kWh to CO2e calculator to try your own energy and fuel figures.

Source	Data	Scope	tCO2e
Office gas	38,000 kWh	1	6.93
Van diesel	21,000 litres	1	54.25
Office electricity	24,000 kWh	2	3.14
Business travel and commuting	Mileage claims and a staff survey	3	18.40
Waste and couriers	Waste invoices and courier spend	3	2.10
Total			84.82

Gas, diesel and electricity use the DESNZ 2026 factors (0.18231 kg per kWh of gas, 2.58354 kg per litre of diesel, 0.13096 kg per kWh of electricity). The Scope 3 lines are illustrative.

The vans are two-thirds of the footprint, so the plan's reduction projects should start there: route planning, driver training and a timetable for electric vans. That is the kind of specific, believable plan evaluators score well.

How to publish it

Put it on your UK website, on a page that is easy to find, such as a sustainability or about page, and link to it from your footer.
Use a stable web address, so the link you give in a bid still works next year.
Show the date of board approval and the signing director's name.
Update it within six months of each financial year end, and keep the old versions available.

Common reasons plans get marked down

Missing one of the five Scope 3 categories, or leaving out commuting because it is hard to measure. Estimate it from a short staff survey.
No baseline year, or a baseline that changes every year without explanation.
Using old conversion factors, or a mix of years.
Counting offsets or a green tariff as a reduction without saying so.
Not signed, not dated, or not published where the buyer can see it.

How Carbon Recycling helps

You add your bills and records, and we calculate every line with the government factor for the right year, showing its ID so an evaluator can check it. The Carbon Reduction Plan follows the government template, stays marked as a draft until your board approval and signing director are recorded, and updates itself when you add next year's data. If you want a second pair of eyes, our one-off expert review of your plan is £395.