Apa yang terjadi
On 21 October 2026 DESNZ published Public sector emissions measurement and reporting guidance. The main document is a technical report called "Emissions measurement and reporting: Technical report and insights for the public sector in England". It is the guidance DESNZ first promised in 2023, and the old timeline page that said it would arrive by the end of 2026 was withdrawn the same day. It builds on research by the Energy Saving Trust that DESNZ published in 2024.
It's worth being clear about what it is. The report explains the options open to a public body, such as how much detail to collect, which scopes to measure, how to set boundaries, and whether to publish and verify, and when each one helps. It focuses on energy use in buildings. It doesn't set deadlines, require any particular scope, list Scope 3 categories a public body must cover, or name a set of conversion factors to use.
What it says about suppliers and Scope 3
Most of the report is about public bodies' own buildings, but a few points matter to anyone who sells to them:
- Two of the eight "mechanisms of change" it lists act on the private sector: engaging suppliers to report and reduce emissions, and assessing suppliers based on their climate performance.
- It says many of the accuracy problems with Scope 3 "can be mitigated where suppliers provide details of the emissions embodied in the products they supply".
- It is frank about spend-based estimates. Pounds spent multiplied by an industry average factor can make cheaper suppliers look cleaner, and if a buyer moves to a less polluting supplier in the same industry, the figure doesn't change.
- It notes that the Procurement Policy Note on Carbon Reduction Plans already requires some public bodies to obtain certain Scope 3 data on large contracts. The report cites PPN 06/21, which has since been replaced by PPN 006. Our post on what changed from PPN 06/21 covers the difference.
It also warns that Scope 3 data is often poorly suited to setting targets or comparing organisations, and is best used to find hotspots. So this is not a signal that every council will demand a full footprint from every supplier. It does give a public body a clear reason to prefer real supplier figures over an average, where it measures its supply chain at all.
Contoh perhitungan
An illustrative council pays a small cleaning and grounds contractor £60,000 a year, excluding VAT. The contractor's turnover is £480,000, so the council's contract is 12.5% of its business. It burns 9,000 litres of van diesel and uses 10,000 kWh of office electricity a year.
| How the council counts the contract | Ton CO2e |
|---|---|
| Spend-based: £60,000 × Defra's "Cleaning and grounds maintenance" multiplier (0.13808 kg per £, 2023 figures) | 8.28 |
| Supplier's own Scope 1 and 2 (24.56 tonnes), 12.5% share | 3.07 |
| The next year, after the contractor cuts van diesel to 6,000 litres | 2.10 |
The two methods aren't measuring the same thing: Defra's multiplier covers the whole supply chain behind the spend, while the supplier figure covers only the contractor's own vans and office. The point is what moves. If the contract price stays the same, the spend-based figure stays at 8.28 tonnes whatever the contractor does. With supplier data, the contractor's real cut shows up in the council's figures. That is the gap the report describes.
Apa yang harus dilakukan sekarang
- Measure your Scope 1 and 2. Bills and fuel records for one 12-month period are enough to start. Our post on a cleaning company's footprint shows a typical small contractor's sources.
- Work out a share per customer. Allocate by revenue unless something better fits, and write the method down.
- Publish a Carbon Reduction Plan. It is required for PPN 006 contracts and answers most public sector questions with a link. Check which Scope 3 categories PPN 006 asks for.
- Know what is a reasonable ask. Our guide to supplier carbon data requests and our post on council tender carbon requirements cover the common questions.
Bagaimana Carbon Recycling membantu
Carbon Recycling works out your Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions from bills and records with the government conversion factors, and produces a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan from the same figures on every plan. Our free carbon report check recalculates the electricity and gas in a plan or SECR report and finds anything PPN 006 asks for that is missing, and the free supplier questionnaire answer bank fills in model answers to common customer carbon questions from your own figures. If you also buy from others, the Growth plan lets you send your own suppliers a secure link to report their emissions and add the figures to the right Scope 3 category.
The environmental reason to care: in the example, cutting 3,000 litres of diesel avoids 7.75 tonnes CO2e a year. Supplier data is how that cut reaches your customer's figures, instead of being hidden by an industry average.