PPN 006 Carbon Reduction Plans: What They Are and Who Needs One

Is this you? Compliance can be a headache, but we can help make CRPs easier.

If you're bidding for a large UK government contract, you'll be asked for a Carbon Reduction Plan. Without one, your bid could be rejected. Plenty of businesses first hear about the requirement when a tender lands, with a deadline that leaves no time to put one together properly.

In this article we'll cover what a Carbon Reduction Plan actually is, who needs one, what has to go in it, how long it realistically takes, and the mistakes that get plans rejected. We'll explain the jargon along the way too.

What is a Carbon Reduction Plan?

A Carbon Reduction Plan (usually shortened to CRP) is a short public document showing your organisation's greenhouse gas emissions, your commitment to reaching Net Zero by 2050, and the steps you're taking to get there.

It isn't a lengthy sustainability report. Most run to two or three pages, occasionally five. What sets it apart is that it follows a set government format, has to be approved at board level, and has to be published on your own website where anyone can find it.

What is PPN 006, and what happened to PPN 06/21?

PPN stands for Procurement Policy Note. It's the mechanism the UK government uses to tell public sector buyers how to run their procurements.

The Carbon Reduction Plan requirement was introduced in June 2021 as PPN 06/21. In February 2025 it was renumbered to PPN 006 to fit the new Procurement Act 2023, and it applies under that name to procurements started on or after 24 February 2025.

If you're wondering whether the renaming affects you, it doesn't. The requirements haven't changed.

Does my company need a Carbon Reduction Plan?

The requirement applies when a central government department, executive agency or non-departmental public body runs a procurement worth more than £5 million per year, including VAT. It also covers frameworks and dynamic markets where individual contracts are expected to exceed that figure.

So for most businesses, the honest answer is: not automatically. But there are three situations where you'll need one, and two of them catch people out on a regular basis.

• You're bidding directly for a major government contract. The obvious case. The Carbon Reduction Plan is assessed at the selection stage on a pass or fail basis, and an incomplete or missing plan can end the bid right there.
• You're a subcontractor or consortium partner. Lead bidders routinely ask their supply chain for plans, because their own credibility rests on the chain behind them.
• Someone else has adopted the standard voluntarily. The NHS applies its own version of the requirement to all of its tenders (regardless of the value), and a growing number of local authorities, universities and large private buyers now ask for a PPN-style plan simply because it's a recognised format. Plenty of organisations meet it for the first time in a tender that has nothing to do with central government.

If you haven't measured your emissions before, a plan can take weeks to produce properly, and tender deadlines rarely give you weeks. Most of the panic we see comes from organisations discovering the requirement at the point of bidding, rather than before.

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What does a Carbon Reduction Plan need to include?

The government publishes a technical standard. A compliant plan needs five things.

1. Your current emissions

A greenhouse gas footprint in tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e), covering the seven greenhouse gases named in the Kyoto Protocol and calculated using the UK Government's published conversion factors. The template asks for two figures here: a baseline year (your reference point, which can be your first-ever reporting period if you're starting from scratch) and your current reporting year. On a first-time plan these are often the same year; from your second CRP onward you report both side by side.

2. A Net Zero commitment

An explicit statement that your organisation is committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050 at the latest.

3. Your reduction measures

The carbon reduction projects you've completed, plus the ones you're planning, along with the effect they're expected to have.

4. Board approval and a director's signature

The plan needs to be approved by your board of directors (or equivalent management body), signed by a director or designated member, and dated.

5. Publication on your website

The plan has to go on your UK website, with the link easy to find. It then needs reviewing and updating within six months of your financial year end.

Ecollective can help do each of these for you.

Which Scope 3 categories does PPN 006 require?

Scope 1 and Scope 2 have to be reported in full. Scope 3 covers your wider value chain and can run to fifteen categories, but PPN 006 only requires five of them (these come from the GHG Protocol):

• Upstream transportation and distribution
• Waste generated in operations
• Business travel
• Employee commuting
• Downstream transportation and distribution

You're welcome to report more, and plenty of organisations do. But those five are the mandatory minimum.

If Scope 1, 2 and 3 are new territory for you, our guide to what Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are is a decent place to start.

Is there a Carbon Reduction Plan template?

Yes, the government publishes one, and using it is the sensible choice. Buyers are used to seeing that format, which makes checking straightforward.

The numbers still need calculating, the reduction measures still need to be real, and the whole thing still has to survive a procurement team reading it closely. Missing data in year 1, or making mistakes in your calculations, can create extra work in future years and awkward conversations.

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How long does it take to produce one?

It depends. If you've already measured your carbon footprint, most of the work is done and you're mainly filling in the template and getting sign-off. If you haven't, it comes down to how complicated your business is and whether the data is easy to get hold of.

Common mistakes that get plans rejected

• Leaving out one of the five Scope 3 categories. Employee commuting is the usual casualty, because it needs a staff survey and nobody wants to run one.
• Reduction measures with no numbers. "We are committed to reducing our environmental impact" isn't a measure. "We've moved to a renewable electricity tariff, saving an estimated 42 tonnes of CO2e a year" is.
• Publishing it somewhere nobody can find. The requirement is a prominent link on your UK website, not a file buried three clicks into a policies page.
• Letting it go stale. Plans need reviewing within six months of your financial year end. A buyer who checks the date won't be impressed by an out-of-date plan.
• Starting when the tender lands. The most common mistake, and the most expensive one. By then, six weeks of work has to squeeze into whatever time is left.

Jargon buster

PPN

Procurement Policy Note. Guidance issued by the Cabinet Office telling public sector buyers how to run procurements. PPN 006 covers Carbon Reduction Plans; PPN 06/21 was its previous name.

Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP)

The short, board-approved, publicly available document described in this article. Required from suppliers bidding for major central government contracts.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions

Scope 1 is what your organisation burns directly (gas, company vehicle fuel). Scope 2 is the electricity you buy. Scope 3 is everything else in your value chain: travel, commuting, suppliers, waste, freight. PPN 006 requires all of Scope 1 and 2, plus five specific Scope 3 categories.

CO2e

Carbon dioxide equivalent. A way of expressing all greenhouse gases as a single figure, by converting each gas into the amount of CO2 that would produce the same warming effect. Every figure in a Carbon Reduction Plan is in tonnes of CO2e.

Net Zero

Reducing emissions as far as possible and balancing what remains, so the organisation adds no net greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. PPN 006 requires a commitment to reach this by 2050 at the latest. For the difference between this and "carbon neutral" see our guide to carbon neutral, carbon negative and Net Zero.

How can ecollective help?

Total hours it normally takes: Hours? Days or weeks are more likely.

Total number of your hours it takes with Ecollective: A few, maybe half a day tops if you need to do some invoice digging (we love a messy spreadsheet or a disorganised folder so just send us what you have).

Turnaround time: Ecollective record stands at 3 days start to finish.

Price range: Starting at £120 + VAT, more if you haven't measured already.

To find out more, book a free call with Charlie here.

Last reviewed: August 2026. Based on the PPN 006 technical standard for completion of Carbon Reduction Plans. Requirements can change, so always check the current government guidance before submitting a bid.