Carbon reporting for construction firms

Construction firms bidding for UK government contracts worth more than £5 million a year need a PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan, and many councils, housing associations and main contractors ask for one on smaller jobs. For most builders the biggest sources are plant and van fuel, site energy, waste and haulage.

Updated 3 October 2026 by the Carbon Recycling team. Figures use the official UK government conversion factors and are checked against the current gov.uk guidance.

Public sector construction frameworks increasingly score carbon, and main contractors pass the questions down their supply chains. A Carbon Reduction Plan shows a buyer you have measured your emissions with the UK government's own method, committed to net zero and started cutting. Here is what goes into one for a construction business.

Where construction emissions come from

Source	Scope	What to collect
Diesel for plant and generators you run	Scope 1	Fuel invoices or bowser records, in litres
Vans and company vehicles	Scope 1	Fuel cards in litres, or mileage by van class
Grid electricity at yards, offices and sites you run	Scope 2	Bills in kWh, including temporary site supplies
Gas or oil heating at offices and yards	Scope 1	Bills in kWh or litres
Deliveries of materials you pay for	Scope 3, category 4	Tonnes and distance, or the haulier's own figures
Skips and site waste	Scope 3, category 5	Waste transfer notes: tonnes by material and treatment
Travel to meetings and other sites, hotels	Scope 3, category 6	Expenses and mileage claims
Staff getting to site	Scope 3, category 7	A short commuting survey

Since 1 April 2022 most construction plant can no longer run on red diesel, so check you are using the conversion factor for the fuel you actually bought.

Quick wins buyers recognise

Hybrid or battery generators, and getting a grid connection to site earlier;
anti-idling policies for plant, with telematics to show they work;
electric vans for trades that don't tow or carry heavy loads;
a renewable electricity tariff for yards and offices;
segregating waste on site so more is recycled rather than landfilled.

List the ones you have done, with the year, in the "Carbon reduction projects" section of your plan.

Getting started

Download our free Carbon Reduction Plan template to see what you will need, or read thePPN 006 guide for the rules in full. Carbon Recycling turns your fuel cards, bills and waste notes into the finished plan, with the right government factor applied to every line.

Frequently asked questions

Do construction firms need a Carbon Reduction Plan?

If you bid for central government contracts worth more than £5 million a year, yes, under PPN 006. Many councils, housing associations, universities and main contractors ask their supply chains for one on smaller jobs too.

Whose emissions are the site cabins and generators?

Whoever has operational control: usually the contractor that runs the site and pays for the fuel or electricity. If that is you, they are your Scope 1 (generator fuel) and Scope 2 (grid supply). Fuel your subcontractors buy for their own plant is their Scope 1, not yours.

Do we have to report the embodied carbon in materials?

Not in a PPN 006 plan. It covers Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 categories 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9, which leaves out purchased materials. Some clients ask for embodied carbon separately, for example on a whole-life carbon assessment.

We switched our plant to HVO. How do we report it?

Use the DESNZ conversion factor for the biofuel you actually bought, not the diesel factor. The government factors include biofuels, and the carbon dioxide from burning them is reported separately as biogenic.

Get your figures and reports done in an afternoon

Add a year of bills and Carbon Recycling produces your footprint, PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plan and SECR report, with every figure traced to its government factor. Prices are on the pricing page, from £59 a month.

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