PPN 006 · Carbon Reduction Plans
Carbon reduction plan PPN 006
A Carbon Reduction Plan is not a sustainability report and it is not scored.
Under PPN 006 it is a condition of participation: bidders for central government contracts above £5 million a year, including VAT, provide one, and the buyer checks it pass or fail before anyone reads the bid.
This page sets out who it catches, what the plan must contain, the two clocks that keep it valid, and what changes around it from January 2027.
01 · The instrument
A Carbon Reduction Plan is a gate, not a report
The requirement comes from PPN 006, “Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts”, a Cabinet Office notice dated February 2025 that replaced PPN 06/21 for new procurements.
Read the provisions and qualifications
Its paragraph 10 tells buyers to include, “as a condition of participation, a requirement for bidding suppliers to provide a CRP” (PPN 006).
The guidance is more directive: in-scope organisations “must include the questions in Annex A within their conditions of participation”, the answers are assessed pass or fail on self-declaration, and a supplier should be prevented from award only where the plan fails those criteria.
So the plan is checked at the selection stage, before price or quality is considered.
You either have a compliant plan published, or you do not; there is no partial credit and no better answer.
That makes it the cheapest compliance document in UK procurement to get right, and an expensive one to get wrong.
The notice’s own scope line matters as much as its content: it is procurement policy binding the buyers it names, not a law requiring companies to hold a plan.
Module 01 / 04
Policy notice
Module 02 / 04
Selection condition
Module 03 / 04
Buyer guidance
Module 04 / 04
Before award
Tables and tools
PPN 006 binds in-scope buyers, not companies in general.
A supplier needs a plan only when bidding for an in-scope contract, from an in-scope buyer, above the threshold.
Remove any one of those and there is no requirement.
02 · Who it catches
Five million a year, including VAT, and only central government
Paragraph 2 sets the buyers: the notice “applies to all central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies”.
Read the provisions and qualifications
That is the whole list: local authorities, schools, universities and police forces are not in it, and the devolved administrations run their own rules — the Welsh Government publishes its own notes.
The NHS is a special case: PPN 006 does not reach it, but NHS England’s own requirements (version 3, 11 December 2025) ask for a full Carbon Reduction Plan above £5 million a year and a lighter Net Zero Commitment below it, and accept a plan built to PPN 006.
Paragraph 3 sets the contracts: goods, services or works, other than special regime contracts, “with an estimated contract value above £5 million per year (including VAT)”.
Footnote 5 makes it an average over the contract’s life: “a contract with a four year term with a total contract value of £21 million would be in scope, even if the value in the first year was under £5 million”.
So £21m over four years is £5.25m a year and in; £19m over four years is £4.75m and out.
The test is per contract, not per supplier — it does not add up a supplier’s government work.
The notice applies to procurements advertised on or after 24 February 2025, the day the Procurement Act 2023 came into force; earlier procurements stay with PPN 06/21.
The checker on this panel applies those tests to one contract and shows which paragraph decided the answer.
Module 01 / 04
Central government
Module 02 / 04
Excluded buyers
Module 03 / 04
NHS distinction
Module 04 / 04
Contract test
Tables and tools
PPN 006 threshold check · ¶¶2–4
Enter the total contract value and the term to see the annual average the notice tests.
PPN 006 ¶¶2–4, 7, 9 and footnote 5; PPN 06/21 FAQ; NHS England CRP requirements v3.
An account of the notices, not advice on a tender.
Nothing you enter is stored or sent.
03 · The change
Excluding VAT became including VAT
This is the single most consequential difference between the old notice and the new one, and it is almost never reported.
Read the provisions and qualifications
PPN 06/21 applied to contracts of “£5 million per annum and above (excluding VAT)”; PPN 006 applies above “£5 million per year (including VAT)”.
At the 20% standard rate, £5m including VAT is about £4.17m excluding it, so the net got wider.
The FAQ says “the substantive obligation introduced by PPN 06/21, now PPN 006, remains the same under the Act (but as a condition of participation as opposed to selection criteria)”.
That is true of what the plan must contain, and not of who must produce one.
The honest formulation has three parts: the content is materially unchanged, the mechanism moved from selection criterion to condition of participation, and the threshold’s VAT basis changed.
One more number to keep apart: the Act’s own threshold for works contracts is £5,193,000 (PPN 023), a different figure for a different purpose.
Module 01 / 04
Key distinction
Module 02 / 04
Old and new wording
Module 03 / 04
VAT arithmetic
Module 04 / 04
Substantive obligation
04 · The routes in
Frameworks are in scope, not carved out
“Frameworks are excluded” is one of the more confident errors in this area.
Read the provisions and qualifications
Paragraph 4 says the opposite: the notice “applies to frameworks and dynamic markets but only where it is estimated that the individual value of any contract to be awarded … is greater than £5 million per year (including VAT)”.
So a place on a framework does not exempt you, and the test is applied to each call-off, in the Act’s terms a contract awarded under a framework (s.45), often after a competitive selection process (s.46).
A supplier on several frameworks expecting a large call-off needs a current plan before that call-off is advertised.
The genuine exclusions are special regime contracts, anything below the threshold, and cases where the guidance lets the buyer disapply the measure as not relevant or proportionate to the contract — a judgement for the buyer, not a door for the bidder.
Contract value itself is estimated under s.4 of the Act.
Module 01 / 04
Common error
Module 02 / 04
Notice wording
Module 03 / 04
Call-off test
Module 04 / 04
Preparation
05 · The template
Six headings, two tables, and a signature
| Template heading | What it asks | Notes from the guidance and standard |
|---|---|---|
| Supplier name and publication date | Two lines at the top | The 12-month clock runs from the publication date |
| 7.1 Commitment to achieving net zero | “[Supplier name] is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 20XX.” | By 2050 at the latest (Technical Standard ¶8), for UK operations |
| 7.2 Baseline emissions footprint | Baseline year; additional details on the calculation; Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3 (included sources), total, in tCO2e | No previous footprint? Say so and use the first reporting period as the baseline |
| 7.3 Current emissions reporting | Reporting year; the same four rows | Same boundary and categories as the baseline, or explain |
| 7.4 Emissions reduction targets | “We project that carbon emissions will decrease over the next five years to XX tCO2e by 20XX. This is a reduction of XX%.” | Name the base the percentage is measured against |
| 7.5 Carbon reduction projects | Completed measures since the baseline, with their effect; planned measures | For information only |
| 7.6 Declaration and sign off | Completed in accordance with PPN 006; GHG Protocol and government factors; reviewed and signed off by the board | Name, job title and date; no physical signature needed (¶25) |
The template is printed in the notice itself, at section 7, and is also published as an editable file; the safest plan follows it heading by heading.
Both emissions tables have the same four rows — Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3 (included sources) and total — in tonnes of CO2e.
The baseline belongs to the template, not the Technical Standard, which speaks of a single footprint and asks that the same reporting period be used throughout the submission.
The declaration is what a buyer reads first: that the plan “has been completed in accordance with PPN 006”, that emissions follow the GHG Protocol and the government’s conversion factors, and that it “has been reviewed and signed off by the board of directors (or equivalent management body)”.
The guidance notes list examples of measures for the projects section, including certification schemes; note that PAS 2060, one of the examples, has since been withdrawn by BSI — see PAS 2060 and ISO 14068.
If the target was set with the Science Based Targets initiative, give it in the targets section; a plan does not require one — science-based targets and how to set one explain the process.
The SECR report template covers the directors’ report equivalent.
Module 01 / 04
Official template
Module 02 / 04
Emissions tables
Module 03 / 04
Baseline
Module 04 / 04
Declaration
06 · The five categories
Five of the fifteen, and not the big one
“Scope 3 is required” is true and almost useless.
Read the provisions and qualifications
The Technical Standard says plans “focus upon the recording and reporting of Scope 1 and 2 emissions” with “additional reporting against a subset of Scope 3 emissions”, and paragraph 15 names the subset.
It is category 4, upstream transportation and distribution; category 5, waste generated in operations; category 6, business travel; category 7, employee commuting; and category 9, downstream transportation and distribution.
The list is not contiguous — category 8 is absent — and category 1, purchased goods and services, usually a supplier’s largest, is not asked for.
That cuts both ways: it makes a compliant plan achievable for a services business that could not measure its whole supply chain, and it means a plan is not a Scope 3 inventory and should never be presented as one.
The categories are defined in the GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard; Scope 3 emissions sets them all out and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions sorts activities into them.
Measurement follows the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, in tonnes of CO2e, with the government conversion factors, from UK sources only (¶16).
The boundary may be financial control, operational control or equity share (¶22), and the gases are the seven of the Kyoto basket including nitrogen trifluoride (¶20) — the notice’s paragraph 11 says six, but its own footnote and the standard say seven, and seven governs.
Scope 2 is reported location-based; Scope 2 emissions explains the method and the UK factors.
Module 01 / 04
Scope 3 wording
Module 02 / 04
Scopes 1 and 2
Module 03 / 04
Five categories
Module 04 / 04
Excluded categories
07 · Sign-off and publication
A director signs it, and the homepage carries it
Two requirements are dropped from almost every summary, and a buyer can check both in under a minute.
Read the provisions and qualifications
The plan must be signed off by a director, or equivalent, or a designated member for an LLP, with name, job title and date, and should say that board approval was given and when.
A physical signature is not needed, but the plan should state clearly that it has been signed (¶25).
Then publication: suppliers should publish their latest plan on their UK website, with the link in a prominent place on the homepage — not a PDF emailed with the bid.
A supplier without a website must give a written copy to anyone who asks within 30 days (¶¶13, 23).
The standard also calls it good practice to keep previous plans online so progress can be followed.
A condition of participation checked on self-declaration needs something that cannot be produced the night before, and a dated, signed, publicly posted document is exactly that — which is why governance matters here; see ESG governance and the role of the chief sustainability officer.
Module 01 / 04
Two requirements
Module 02 / 04
Authorised sign-off
Module 03 / 04
Signature format
Module 04 / 04
Website publication
08 · Two clocks
Twelve months to bid, six months to refresh
There are two different time limits on a Carbon Reduction Plan, and they are constantly merged into one.
Twelve months decides whether the plan you have is usable in the bid in front of you: the FAQ puts the pass criterion as a plan signed off and published “since the publication of the tender notice, or in the preceding 12 month period”.
One plan in that window serves every procurement where the measure applies.
Six months decides when you have to produce a new one: the Technical Standard says plans should be reviewed and updated annually, “within 6 months of your organisation’s financial year-end” (¶11).
Run them together and you get the wrong answer both ways: an eleven-month-old plan is usable even if your year-end was ten months ago, and a plan published seven months after year-end is late even if no tender has appeared.
The calculator on this panel works out both dates from yours.
Carbon Reduction Plan clocks · 12 and 6 months
Enter the dates you have; each clock answers on its own.
PPN 006 FAQ (issued June 2025, published 10 July 2025); Technical Standard ¶11.
Nothing you enter is stored or sent.
09 · The check
Ambition earns nothing, and that is deliberate
A supplier targeting net zero by 2030 and one targeting 2050 are treated identically.
The FAQ says plans “should not be ‘scored’ or compared against each other”, and that assessment “takes the form of a check that they meet the requirements of the measure” — PPN 06/21’s FAQ said the same.
2050 is a backstop, not a target: the Technical Standard asks for a commitment to net zero “by 2050 at the latest”, and earlier earns nothing under this measure.
A non-compliant response is marked fail, and the consequence is exclusion from that procurement.
We have found no provision allowing a deficient plan to be corrected after submission; the safe course is a compliant, published, signed plan before a tender notice appears.
The Procurement Act’s general rules on conditions of participation are in s.22 and the government’s guidance on conditions of participation.
If you are trying to win on sustainability, the lever is the award stage, which is what makes the social value changes below matter — see ESG criteria for how buyers weigh it.
10 · Lineage and statute
PPN 06/21, the Act, and the date that moved
PPN 06/21 was published on 5 June 2021 and applied to procurements from 30 September 2021.
It was never withdrawn with a date: PPN 006 says “for procurements commenced and contracts awarded before this date, please refer to PPN 06/21”, and the index of notes lists it among out-of-date notes.
The accurate statement is that it was superseded in application from 24 February 2025 and remains the reference for earlier procurements.
The plan is a policy requirement delivered through a statutory mechanism: the condition of participation is a creature of the Procurement Act, whose explanatory notes describe the regime and whose detail sits in the Procurement Regulations 2024.
The commencement date itself moved: SI 2024/716 set 28 October 2024, and SI 2024/959 substituted 24 February 2025; anything dated to October 2024 describes a regime that never started.
The National Procurement Policy Statement, issued under s.13 of the Act, sets the government’s procurement priorities alongside; it is not the source of any Carbon Reduction Plan requirement.
Crown Commercial Service became the Government Commercial Agency on 1 April 2026, and its supplier guidance on plans now sits under the new name.
New notices are announced on the Procurement Pathway updates page.
- 5 Jun 2021PPN 06/21 published
In effect for procurements from 30 September 2021; £5m excluding VAT.
- Feb 2025PPN 006
Updated notice under the Procurement Act.
- 24 Feb 2025Procurement Act in force
PPN 006 applies to procurements advertised from this date.
- Jun 2025PPN 006 FAQ
Issued June 2025, published 10 July 2025.
- 11 Dec 2025NHS England v3
Its own CRP and Net Zero Commitment requirements.
- 1 Apr 2026CCS becomes GCA
Crown Commercial Service renamed the Government Commercial Agency.
- 5 Aug 2026PPN 026 published
The new Social Value Model.
- 1 Jan 2027PPN 026 applies
For procurements commenced from this date.
11 · The neighbours
Three notices with carbon in them, and only one of them is this
| Notice | What it does | Stage | Scored? |
|---|---|---|---|
| PPN 006 | An organisation-level Carbon Reduction Plan | Selection: condition of participation | No — pass or fail |
| PPN 016 | An optional carbon reduction schedule in an individual contract | Contract terms | Not a scoring tool |
| PPN 002 | The Social Value Model, including an environmental outcome | Award | Yes — a flat minimum 10% of the total score |
| PPN 026 | The new Social Value Model: Good Jobs and Skills | Award, from 1 January 2027 | Yes — minimum 10% from £1m, 20% from £5m |
The FAQ forbids the obvious mistake: “PPN 006 should not be applied as part of the requirements of the Social Value Model, it is a separate measure.”
PPN 016 is a contract schedule a buyer may use where a single contract’s emissions matter; it does not replace or add to the plan.
PPN 002 applies the Social Value Model at award with a flat minimum 10% weighting, and its model includes an environmental outcome; the social value model page takes it apart.
Departments’ commitments about their own operations are separate again, in the Greening Government Commitments.
12 · January 2027
The new social value model has no environmental outcome
PPN 026, “The Social Value Model”, was published on 5 August 2026 and applies to procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2027 — commenced meaning when the tender notice is published.
It applies to covered procurements of £1 million total contract value or more including VAT, with a minimum 10% weighting from £1m and 20% from £5m (PPN 026).
Its model has two outcomes, Good Jobs and Skills, and no environmental, net zero or carbon outcome; the one mention of clean energy is as an example of a skills shortage.
PPN 026 does not name PPN 002 as superseded, and PPN 002 carries no supersession notice, so this page states what each document says rather than a supersession neither asserts.
PPN 026 itself says its guidance will be published in autumn 2026.
Read together, the award-stage carbon lever in central government social value has no equivalent in the new model, which leaves PPN 006’s pass-or-fail as the main carbon requirement in central government procurement from 2027.
For the wider calendar, see the UK sustainability regulation timeline.
13 · In practice
How to build a plan that passes
| Step | What to do | Where the rule is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Choose a reporting year you have clean data for, and use it throughout the submission | Technical Standard |
| 2 | Measure Scope 1 and 2 in full, then categories 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9, with the GHG Protocol and the government factors for that year | Technical Standard ¶15; DESNZ ¶1.10 |
| 3 | Set the baseline year, put the assumptions in the additional-details field, and state the current year beside it | Template 7.2–7.3 |
| 4 | State the net zero year — 2050 at the latest — and the five-year projection, naming the base of the percentage | Technical Standard ¶8; template 7.4 |
| 5 | List completed and planned projects, counting only what the measures achieved | Template 7.5 |
| 6 | Get a director’s sign-off with name, job title and date, and state the board approval | Technical Standard ¶¶24–25 |
| 7 | Publish on your UK website with a prominent homepage link, and diarise the six-month refresh | Technical Standard ¶¶11–13 |
If you already report under SECR, you have most of Scope 1 and 2 and some business travel already, on the right basis; the extra work is waste, commuting and the two transport categories — see the SECR hub and the SECR reporting guide.
Measure once and use it for both, with the method set out in carbon accounting and the GHG Protocol.
Software can hold the data and the trail — see carbon reporting software — and suppliers who want outside help can look for a carbon footprint consultant.
For the projects in step 5, the guide to carbon reduction consultancy sets out what a carbon reduction consultant does and when one is worth hiring.
The plan’s footprint should be to a reasonable level of assurance, but “there is no requirement to have your carbon footprint audited” (¶18); sustainability assurance covers what verification involves if you choose it.
14 · A worked example
A Carbon Reduction Plan example, with the arithmetic shown
Supplier A is illustrative, not a real company: a 180-person facilities services business, UK only, reporting on the calendar year under operational control, one of the three approaches ¶22 allows.
Its baseline year is 2022 and its reporting year 2025; it sells services, so nothing it sells is transported to a customer.
Scope 2, calculated. It bought 420,000 kWh of grid electricity in 2025, and the 2025 UK factor for electricity generated is 0.17700 kgCO2e per kWh (DESNZ 2025, Table 9), so 420,000 × 0.17700 = 74,340 kg, or 74.3 tCO2e.
The separate transmission and distribution losses factor, 0.01853, is Scope 3 category 3, which a plan does not ask for, so it stays out.
The totals. Scope 3 included sources are 44.1 + 9.8 + 58.2 + 121.4 + 0.0 = 233.5 for 2022 and 38.0 + 6.2 + 41.5 + 96.8 + 0.0 = 182.5 for 2025.
Totals are 268.9 + 118.6 + 233.5 = 621.0 for 2022 and 212.4 + 74.3 + 182.5 = 469.2 for 2025, a fall of 151.8 tCO2e, or 24.4%.
Category 9 is stated as nil, with the reason — a blank row invites the question whether it was measured.
The target line: “We project that carbon emissions will decrease over the next five years to 330.0 tCO2e by 2030. This is a reduction of 46.9% against our 2022 baseline.”
Measured against 2025 instead, it would be 29.7%, which is why the base is named.
The completed-projects line is 97.0 tCO2e, not 151.8 — a 15.6% reduction against the baseline — because the sentence asks for the reduction the measures achieved, and the rest of the fall came from a cleaner grid and a smaller headcount.
Next year’s trap. The 2026 factor is 0.13096 (DESNZ 2026, Table 9), so the same 420,000 kWh gives 55.0 tCO2e — 19.3 tonnes lower with no change in behaviour.
DESNZ attributes most of that 26% fall to grid decarbonisation and part to a change of method; none of it belongs in the completed-projects line, and the 2026 set is for activity that falls mostly in 2026.
The builder on this panel loads Supplier A and does the same arithmetic on your figures; GHG conversion factors explains the factor change.
Carbon Reduction Plan builder · the template’s tables
| tCO2e | ||
|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | ||
| Scope 2 (location-based) | ||
| Cat. 4 upstream transport | ||
| Cat. 5 waste | ||
| Cat. 6 business travel | ||
| Cat. 7 employee commuting | ||
| Cat. 9 downstream transport | ||
| Scope 3 (included sources) | — | — |
| Total emissions | — | — |
Fill every row for both years (use 0 for a category that does not apply, and say why in the plan).
PPN 006 section 7 (the template) and Technical Standard ¶¶8, 15, 21.
Figures are yours or the page’s illustrative example.
Nothing you enter is stored or sent.
15 · Edge cases
Six edge cases the summaries skip
The threshold is an average. £21m over four years is in; £19m over four years is out (footnote 5).
A subsidiary can borrow its parent’s plan — on four conditions, for a while. The bidder must be wholly owned, support and adopt the parent’s commitment in a statement in the plan, be able to apply the measures, and publish the plan on its own website; and the notice says relying on a parent’s plan “may only be a temporary measure” (¶10).
No audit is required. Reasonable assurance, but no requirement to have the footprint audited (¶18).
Six gases or seven. Report seven, including nitrogen trifluoride, as the Technical Standard and the notice’s own footnote say.
UK sources only. A group reporting worldwide figures elsewhere needs a UK cut for this plan (¶16).
No website is not an exemption. A written copy to anyone who asks, within 30 days.
16 · The corrections
Eight things said about Carbon Reduction Plans that are wrong
Each statement on this panel is in circulation, and each is contradicted by a document cited on this page.
The pattern behind most of them is the same: a fact about the 2021 notice, a neighbouring notice or the NHS’s separate instrument, restated as a fact about PPN 006.
Three separate documents carry carbon requirements in central government procurement, with different thresholds, stages and consequences.
For where a plan sits among supplier sustainability requests generally, see ESG questionnaires, ESG frameworks in the UK and ESG standards.
Carbon Reduction Plans: true or false?
The PPN 006 threshold is £5 million a year excluding VAT.
Frameworks are excluded from PPN 006.
A more ambitious net zero date scores better.
A Carbon Reduction Plan must cover all of Scope 3.
PPN 006 applies to NHS trusts.
The plan must be audited.
Companies are legally required to have a Carbon Reduction Plan.
A plan must carry a handwritten signature.
0 of 8 answered.
Nothing you choose is stored or sent.
17 · Where this connects
A plan in the wider UK reporting picture
A Carbon Reduction Plan is one of several carbon documents a UK supplier may be asked for, and it borrows its method from the others.
Large suppliers may also be in ESOS, the energy audit regime — see energy savings opportunity scheme, ESOS requirements, ESOS qualification and ESOS deadlines.
Listed suppliers report against UK SRS from 2027 on a comply-or-explain basis — see the UK SRS deadline, UK SRS legislation, the ISSB framework it derives from, and a readiness assessment.
Groups with EU operations meet ESRS — compared in CSRD vs UK SRS — and importers of certain goods meet the UK CBAM.
The policy background is in modernising corporate reporting, and the ESG vocabulary in what is ESG, the ESG pillars and ESG strategy.
Changes to the notices are logged in our news.
A reading and preparation sequence
carbon reduction plan ppn 006: from the question to the evidence
- Step 0101
Procurement condition
The requirement comes from PPN 006, “Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts”, a Cabinet Office notice dated February 2025 that replaced PPN 06/21 for new procurements.Read the detail. - Step 0202
Buyer and contract
Paragraph 2 sets the buyers: the notice “applies to all central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies”.Read the detail. - Step 0303
The threshold
This is the single most consequential difference between the old notice and the new one, and it is almost never reported.Read the detail. - Step 0404
Framework call-offs
“Frameworks are excluded” is one of the more confident errors in this area.Read the detail. - Step 0505
Plan contents
The template is printed in the notice itself, at section 7, and is also published as an editable file; the safest plan follows it heading by heading.Read the detail. - Step 0606
Five categories
“Scope 3 is required” is true and almost useless.Read the detail. - Step 0707
Approval and publication
Two requirements are dropped from almost every summary, and a buyer can check both in under a minute.Read the detail.
Dates, with their status
The relevant dates, drawn in order
- 5 June 202101
PPN 06/21 published
The earlier Carbon Reduction Plan policy notice establishes the predecessor procurement measure. - 30 September 202102
Earlier measure applies
PPN 06/21 applies to procurements under its stated scope. Retain the correct notice for an older procurement. - 24 February 202503
Procurement Act route
PPN 006 applies to the relevant procurements commenced from this date. Its threshold includes VAT; check buyer, contract and exceptions separately. - Each reporting cycle04
Two different plan clocks
Review and update the plan within six months of financial year end. The procurement assessment separately checks a plan’s recency; use the guidance and FAQ rather than merging the two clocks.
Continue your research
Related reporting guides, one question at a time
Frequently asked
Carbon Reduction Plans, answered
What is PPN 006?
Procurement Policy Note 006, “Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts”, is the Cabinet Office notice — dated February 2025 — that asks central government buyers to make a Carbon Reduction Plan a condition of participation for contracts above £5 million a year including VAT, for procurements advertised from 24 February 2025.
What is a Carbon Reduction Plan?
A short published document giving a supplier’s carbon footprint — Scope 1, Scope 2 and five Scope 3 categories — a commitment to net zero by 2050 at the latest, reduction targets, carbon reduction projects, and a declaration signed off by a director or equivalent.
Under PPN 006 it is checked pass or fail, not scored.
Is a carbon reduction plan a legal requirement?
Not as a general duty on companies.
PPN 006 is procurement policy that binds in-scope central government buyers.
A supplier needs a plan only when bidding for a contract from one of those buyers, above the threshold, where the buyer applies the condition.
Who needs a Carbon Reduction Plan?
Suppliers bidding for contracts from central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, for goods, services or works (other than special regime contracts) with an estimated value above £5 million a year including VAT, averaged over the life of the contract.
Frameworks are in scope where the individual call-off exceeds the same figure.
Is the £5 million threshold including or excluding VAT?
Including VAT, and per year, averaged over the contract’s life.
PPN 06/21 used £5 million per annum excluding VAT.
At the 20% standard rate, PPN 006 catches contracts from about £4.17 million a year excluding VAT.
What should be included in a carbon reduction plan?
The template’s headings: supplier name and publication date; a commitment to net zero (by 2050 at the latest); baseline emissions with the baseline year and assumptions; current emissions for the reporting year; emissions reduction targets with a five-year projection; completed and planned carbon reduction projects; and a declaration and sign-off with the signatory’s name, job title and date.
Which Scope 3 categories does a Carbon Reduction Plan require?
Five: category 4 upstream transportation and distribution, 5 waste generated in operations, 6 business travel, 7 employee commuting and 9 downstream transportation and distribution.
Purchased goods and services, usually the largest, is not required.
How often must a Carbon Reduction Plan be updated?
The Technical Standard asks for review and update annually, within six months of the financial year-end.
Separately, to be usable in a bid the plan must have been published since the tender notice or in the preceding 12 months.
Does a Carbon Reduction Plan need to be on our website?
Yes — the latest plan on the supplier’s UK website, with a prominent link from the homepage.
A supplier with no website must give a written copy to anyone who asks within 30 days.
Is a Carbon Reduction Plan scored?
No. The FAQ says plans should not be scored or compared; the assessment is a check that the requirements are met.
A 2030 commitment and a 2050 commitment both pass, and neither gains anything.
Does PPN 006 apply to the NHS?
Not by its own terms.
NHS England runs a separate instrument — version 3 dated 11 December 2025 — requiring a full Carbon Reduction Plan for contracts above £5 million a year and a lighter Net Zero Commitment below that. It accepts a plan built to PPN 006.
Can a subsidiary use its parent’s Carbon Reduction Plan?
Only if the plan meets the Technical Standard and the bidder is wholly owned by the parent, the bidder supports and adopts the parent’s net zero commitment in a statement in the plan, the measures are stated to be able to be applied by the bidder, and the plan is published on the bidder’s own website.
The notice says relying on a parent’s plan may only be temporary.
Does the plan need to be audited or verified?
No. The Technical Standard asks for a footprint conducted to a reasonable level of assurance and then says there is no requirement to have it audited.
Was PPN 06/21 withdrawn?
It was not withdrawn with a date.
PPN 006 directs buyers to PPN 06/21 for procurements commenced and contracts awarded before 24 February 2025, and the index lists it among out-of-date notes.
So it was superseded in application from that date and remains the reference for earlier procurements.
What is the difference between PPN 006 and PPN 016?
PPN 006 is the organisation-level plan checked pass or fail at selection.
PPN 016 is an optional carbon reduction schedule a buyer can put into an individual contract.
They do different jobs.
Does PPN 026 remove carbon from social value scoring?
PPN 026, published on 5 August 2026 for procurements commenced from 1 January 2027, sets out a Social Value Model with two outcomes — Good Jobs and Skills — and no environmental outcome.
It does not name PPN 002 as superseded, and PPN 002 carries no supersession notice, so state what each says rather than a supersession neither asserts.
Sources
Primary sources
Every figure, date and status on this page traces to the instrument’s owner.
Secondary commentary is never the source for a number.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 006: Taking account of Carbon Reduction Plans in the procurement of major government contracts
The notice, its technical standard, guidance, template and FAQ.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 006 — the notice (HTML)
¶¶2–4 scope; ¶¶6–9 dates; ¶10 parent plans; §7 the template.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 — the notice (PDF)
The same text, for citation.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 — the notice (PDF, republished copy)
A later upload of the same document.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 006 Technical Standard for Completion of Carbon Reduction Plans
¶8 2050; ¶11 review; ¶15 five categories; ¶16 UK; ¶18 assurance; ¶22 boundary; ¶25 signature.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 Technical Standard (PDF)
The same paragraphs.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 006 guidance: adopting and applying conditions of participation
Pass/fail on self-declaration.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 006 guidance (PDF)
“Must include the questions in Annex A”.
- Cabinet OfficeCarbon Reduction Plan template (ODT)
The editable template.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 006: frequently asked questions
Issued June 2025, published 10 July 2025: not scored; the 12-month rule.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 06/21 — the predecessor
Published 5 June 2021; still operative for earlier procurements.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 06/21 (PDF)
£5m per annum, excluding VAT.
- NHS EnglandCarbon reduction plan and net zero commitment requirements for NHS procurement (v3, 11 December 2025)
A separate NHS instrument; accepts a PPN 006 plan.
- Government Commercial AgencyWhat suppliers need to know about Carbon Reduction Plans
The agency formerly Crown Commercial Service (since 1 April 2026).
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)Procurement policy notes — index
Current and out-of-date notices.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 016: carbon reduction contract schedule
An optional contract-level schedule.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 002: Taking account of social value in the award of contracts
Award stage; flat minimum 10%.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 06/20 — the original Social Value Model
September 2020.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 026: The Social Value Model
Published 5 August 2026; from 1 January 2027.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 026 — the model (HTML)
Two outcomes: Good Jobs and Skills.
- Cabinet OfficePPN 026 (PDF)
£1m threshold; 10% and 20% tiers.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)PPN 023: 2026 threshold amounts
The Act’s own thresholds — not PPN 006’s.
- legislation.gov.ukProcurement Act 2023
In force 24 February 2025.
- legislation.gov.ukProcurement Act 2023 — explanatory notes
The Act explained.
- legislation.gov.ukProcurement Act 2023 s.4 — valuation of contracts
How contract value is estimated.
- legislation.gov.ukProcurement Act 2023 s.13 — National Procurement Policy Statement
The power the NPPS is issued under.
- legislation.gov.ukProcurement Act 2023 s.22 — conditions of participation
The mechanism a CRP sits inside.
- legislation.gov.ukProcurement Act 2023 s.45 — frameworks
Frameworks in the Act’s terms.
- legislation.gov.ukProcurement Act 2023 s.46 — competitive selection process
Call-offs under a framework.
- legislation.gov.ukThe Procurement Regulations 2024, SI 2024/692
The regulations under the Act.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2024/716 — Commencement No. 3
Set 28 October 2024, before it moved.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2024/959 — Commencement No. 3 (Amendment)
Moved commencement to 24 February 2025.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)Procurement Act guidance: conditions of participation
How conditions of participation work.
- Cabinet OfficeNational Procurement Policy Statement (PDF)
Issued under s.13 of the Act.
- Civil ServiceProcurement Pathway — latest updates
Where new notices are announced.
- Welsh GovernmentProcurement policy notes (Wales)
Wales publishes its own notices.
- Cabinet Office (GOV.UK)Greening Government Commitments
What departments commit to for their own operations.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Accounting and Reporting Standard
The accounting standard a plan follows.
- GHG ProtocolCorporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard
The categories the five are drawn from.
- DESNZ (GOV.UK)Government conversion factors for company reporting
The factors a plan uses.
- DESNZ (GOV.UK)Conversion factors 2026
Published 11 June 2026.
- DESNZ2026 methodology paper, Table 9 and ¶1.10
Electricity generated 0.13096 kgCO2e/kWh; use the activity year’s set.
- DESNZ2025 methodology paper, Table 9
Electricity generated 0.17700 kgCO2e/kWh.
- legislation.gov.ukSI 2018/1155 — the SECR regulations
The reporting that already produces half the numbers.
- HM Revenue & Customs (GOV.UK)VAT rates
Standard rate 20%.
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