How to Write a Carbon Reduction Plan (PPN 006): A Step-by-Step Guide

You've found out you need a Carbon Reduction Plan to bid for a contract, you've opened the government template, and you're staring at a document that assumes you already know what you're doing.

This is the step-by-step version: what each section has to contain, in what order, and the one thing that actually determines whether your plan passes.

Let's start with that one thing, because it changes how you approach everything else.

The most important thing to understand first

A Carbon Reduction Plan under PPN 006 is assessed on a pass or fail basis at the selection stage. The buyer checks that your plan is complete and follows the required format. They do not score your emissions figures against other bidders.

Read that again if you're bidding, because it's the most misunderstood part of the whole process. A buyer will not reject you for having a larger carbon footprint than a competitor, and you will not win the contract by having a smaller one. Your emissions numbers are provided for information.

What gets a plan rejected is being incomplete — a missing section, no director sign-off, an out-of-date footprint, or the wrong Scope 3 categories. It is a compliance document, not a competition. That takes an enormous amount of pressure off, and it tells you where to spend your effort: on completeness and format, not on making your number look good.

With that in mind, here's the plan itself.

Use the government template — don't design your own

The UK government publishes a Template Carbon Reduction Plan alongside PPN 006 (in Annex A of the PPN). Use it. It's not compulsory to use the exact template, but it defines the required structure and content, and buyers are familiar with it — deviating from it only creates risk that you've missed something. Treat it as the checklist your plan must satisfy.

A compliant CRP has the following sections.

Section 1 — Commitment to Net Zero

A clear statement that your organisation is committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050 for its UK operations, in line with the government's target. Name your organisation and state the commitment plainly. This is short, but it's mandatory — a plan without an explicit 2050 Net Zero commitment fails.

Section 2 — Baseline emissions

Your baseline is the reference year against which you'll measure future progress. It's the starting line.

State the baseline year, and report your emissions for it: Scope 1, Scope 2, and the required subset of Scope 3, in tonnes of CO₂e (tCO₂e). If this is your first plan, your baseline may be the same as your current year — that's fine; you say so.

The footprint must be calculated in line with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. (For how to produce the numbers, see how to calculate Scope 3 from spend data.)

Section 3 — Current emissions

The same breakdown — Scope 1, Scope 2, and the required Scope 3 categories — for your latest reporting year. This is what shows progress against the baseline once you have more than one year of data.

The Scope 3 categories you must include under standard PPN 006 are the five in the technical standard:

• Category 4 — Upstream transportation and distribution
• Category 5 — Waste generated in operations
• Category 6 — Business travel
• Category 7 — Employee commuting
• Category 9 — Downstream transportation and distribution

One important note: if you're bidding for NHS contracts of £5m+ per annum from April 2027, the bar rises to all relevant Scope 3 categories, not just these five. (We cover that in the NHS 2027 CRP requirements.)

Section 4 — Emissions reduction targets

State where you intend to get to, and by when. Include a near-term target on the path to Net Zero — a percentage reduction by a specific year against your baseline — as well as the 2050 commitment. A useful, expected addition is a simple chart showing past, present and projected emissions, so a reader can see the trajectory at a glance.

Targets should be specific and dated. "We aim to reduce emissions" is not a target; "we aim to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 30% by 2030 against our 2026 baseline" is.

Section 5 — Carbon reduction projects and measures

This is the part that shows you're actually doing something. List the environmental management measures already in place, and the projects you plan to implement, with the emissions savings you expect from each.

Good practice is to tie each measure to a goal, a way of measuring it, and a timeline — not just "we will reduce travel" but the initiative, the expected saving, and when. Include a projection of the reductions you expect over roughly the next five years.

Section 6 — Declaration and sign-off

The plan must be approved at director level (or equivalent senior management) and signed. This isn't a formality you can skip — an unsigned plan, or one signed by someone without the authority, fails. Include the name, role and date.

Where and how to publish it

A compliant CRP must be published on your UK website so buyers (and the public) can find it. It has to be publicly accessible, not just attached to your bid.

And it must be current. Review and update your plan at least once a year — within six months of your financial year end is the standard guidance — with your latest emissions data, and have a director re-sign it. Check that the published version is recent enough to still be valid on the day you submit a bid. A plan that's gone stale is a common, avoidable reason for failing.

The mistakes that fail a plan

• A missing mandatory section — no Net Zero commitment, no sign-off, no targets.
• The wrong Scope 3 categories, or fewer than the required five.
• An out-of-date footprint — last year's plan, never refreshed.
• Sign-off from the wrong level — not a director or equivalent.
• Not published, or not publicly accessible on your website.

Notice what isn't on that list: a high emissions number. Completeness fails plans; carbon quantity doesn't.

Doing it once, properly

Writing the document is the easy part — it's a few pages, and the template does the structuring for you. The work is producing an accurate footprint across Scope 1, 2 and the required Scope 3 categories, and then refreshing it every year so your published plan stays valid.

That annual refresh is where a spreadsheet approach quietly falls apart. SpendToScope builds your Scope 1, 2 and 3 footprint from your accounting data (Xero, QuickBooks or Sage), with the method and GHG Protocol alignment stated — so the numbers that go into your CRP are ready when you need them, and next year's update is a review rather than a rebuild. If you'd like a running start on the document itself, our PPN 006 guide and planner walks through it.

The bottom line

• A CRP is assessed pass/fail on completeness and format — your emissions figures aren't ranked against competitors.
• Use the government template and fill every section: Net Zero commitment, baseline, current emissions, targets, reduction measures, and director sign-off.
• Include the five required Scope 3 categories (more for NHS £5m+ contracts from April 2027).
• Publish it on your website and refresh it annually — a stale or unsigned plan is the most common way to fail.
• Spend your effort on completeness and keeping the data current, not on the size of the number.