If a tender asks for a Carbon Reduction Plan, it's a pass/fail gate — get it wrong and your bid is out before it's scored. Here's exactly how to build a compliant one, section by section.
What a Carbon Reduction Plan has to prove
A Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) is the document PPN 06/21 requires before you can bid for qualifying central-government contracts (broadly, those above £5 million per year). It isn't scored like a quality answer — it's a selection requirement. If your CRP is missing, out of date, or incomplete, the bid can be rejected outright.
To be compliant, a CRP has to do three things convincingly: commit your organisation to Net Zero, report your emissions honestly, and show the measures you're taking to reduce them. The good news is there's a standard structure to follow — you're not inventing the format. It's worth knowing where a CRP sits alongside your other carbon paperwork: it reports your company's emissions, distinct from a project-specific Whole-Life Carbon Assessment or a PAS 2080 report on how carbon was managed through delivery.
The template you should follow
The UK Government publishes a recommended Carbon Reduction Plan template and technical standard, and buyers expect your plan to follow it. Sticking to the template is the single easiest way to avoid rejection, because assessors are checking that each required element is present. The plan has six parts:
- Commitment to Net Zero
- Baseline emissions footprint
- Current emissions reporting
- Emissions reduction targets
- Carbon reduction projects
- Declaration and sign-off
Work through them in order.
Section 1: Commitment to Net Zero
State clearly that your organisation is committed to achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050 across your UK operations. One or two sentences is enough — but the words "Net Zero" and "2050" need to be there explicitly. Assessors look for the commitment as a specific statement, not an implication.
Section 2: Baseline emissions footprint
Choose a baseline year — a fixed reference year you'll measure future reductions against — and report its emissions in full. This is the anchor for your whole plan, so pick a year you have good data for. You must report:
- Scope 1 — emissions you burn directly (site diesel, plant, gas, company vehicles)
- Scope 2 — purchased energy (grid electricity)
- A defined subset of Scope 3 (see the callout below)
- The total across all reported scopes, in tonnes of CO₂e
State the baseline year, the methodology, and the emission factors used.
Section 3: Current emissions reporting
Repeat the same breakdown for your current reporting year. This lets a reader compare current emissions against the baseline and see the direction of travel. Use the same scopes, the same methodology, and the current-year DEFRA conversion factors.
The Scope 3 categories you must include. PPN 06/21 doesn't require full Scope 3 reporting, but it does mandate five categories as a minimum: business travel, employee commuting, upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, and downstream transportation and distribution. Reporting only Scope 1 and 2 is the most common reason a plan is marked non-compliant.
Section 4: Emissions reduction targets
Set out where you're heading. Confirm your Net Zero target year and describe the reduction you expect between your baseline and future years — ideally shown as a simple trajectory or graph. Targets don't have to be dramatic, but they must be stated and credible. If you have an interim target (for example a percentage reduction by a given year), include it.
Section 5: Carbon reduction projects
This is where you show you're actually doing something. List the measures already completed and those planned, and — where you can — the carbon they save. For a contractor, typical measures include:
- Switching plant to HVO or electric equipment
- Specifying lower-carbon materials (cement replacements like GGBS, recycled steel)
- Logistics optimisation to cut delivery miles
- Waste reduction and higher recycling rates
- Site energy efficiency (LED, smart meters, reduced idling)
Quantify the impact wherever possible — "we did X, saving Y tonnes CO₂e" scores far better than a list of intentions.
Section 6: Declaration and sign-off
The plan must be formally approved at board or director level and say so. Include a declaration confirming it was reviewed and signed off by a director (or equivalent), with a name, role and date. A CRP without sign-off is non-compliant no matter how good the content is.
Publishing and keeping it current
Two final requirements catch people out:
- Publish it on your own UK website. A PDF emailed only to the buyer does not meet the requirement — it has to be publicly available.
- Review and re-publish at least annually. A plan published two years ago and never updated is treated as out of date, and out-of-date means non-compliant.
Common reasons a CRP gets rejected
- Reporting only Scope 1 and 2 and omitting the required Scope 3 categories
- No director sign-off, or no baseline year stated
- The plan isn't published on the company website
- It hasn't been refreshed within the last 12 months
- Emissions figures with no traceable methodology (DEFRA factors)
| Section | Where the evidence comes from |
|---|---|
| Baseline & current emissions | Site fuel, materials, transport and waste logs, converted on DEFRA factors |
| Reduction targets | The trend between your baseline and current-year figures |
| Reduction projects | Specific measures taken — HVO switch, material substitution, logistics changes — each with a saving attached |
| Sign-off | A director's name, role and date, recorded formally |
The hard part is rarely the template — it's having accurate, year-round emissions data ready so the numbers are defensible the moment a tender lands, and ready to back up the answers in your wider tender response. VerdCore's construction carbon reporting software keeps that data ready year-round.