Your Carbon Reduction Plan, from your accounts.
Central government buyers ask bidders for a Carbon Reduction Plan on contracts worth more than £5 million a year, as a condition of participation. Upload your accounting export: we calculate Scope 1, Scope 2 and the Scope 3 your accounts record, add your commuting estimate, and fill in the Cabinet Office's own template with the five Scope 3 categories the Technical Standard names, your targets and your director's sign-off.
Who asks for one
PPN 006 applies to central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies, for procurements advertised on or after 24 February 2025 with a contract value above £5 million a year including VAT, and to frameworks and dynamic markets where a contract under them exceeds that value. Where it is relevant and proportionate to the contract, the plan is a condition of participation.
NHS England already asks for a plan on contracts of £5 million a year or more. From 1 April 2027 it also asks for one on new contracts below £5 million a year that are above the published procurement thresholds, where relevant and proportionate, and accepts any current plan prepared under PPN 006 for them. Contracts of £5 million a year or more, and new frameworks where relevant and proportionate, then need its fuller 2027 plan.
The plan is reviewed and updated within six months of each financial year end, approved by a director and published on your UK website.
What the plan contains
The Cabinet Office template, section by section, and what fills each one. The figures come from your accounts; the commitments come from you.
From your report.
Your year: 2050 at the latest.
For a first plan, the reporting year itself. Otherwise your earlier figures and how they were calculated.
Scope 1, Scope 2 and the Scope 3 included sources, calculated from your accounts.
The reduction you project, over up to five years.
The measures you have completed and those you plan, in your words.
The date your board approved the plan, and the director who signs it.
Where each figure comes from
Scope 3 reports the five categories the Technical Standard requires: three from your accounts, commuting from your estimate, and downstream transport from your estimate if you give one.
Petrol, diesel, natural gas and heating oil in your accounts: the spend is turned into litres and kWh at DESNZ's published prices for the period, then converted at the UK Government's conversion factors (DESNZ 2026). Litres of petrol and diesel and kWh of gas from your bills use the same factors. LPG bought by spend has no official UK price to convert it, so it uses the US EPA factor per dollar, and the plan says so.
Electricity spend or metered kWh, at the UK Government's factor for UK electricity (DESNZ 2026), location-based.
Upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations and business travel: the spend your accounts record, at the Defra and University of Leeds spend-based factors for UK companies.
Employee commuting. Staff pay for it, so it is rarely in the accounts: your estimate of headcount, days on site, distance and how people travel, at DESNZ 2026 factors.
Downstream transportation and distribution: transport of goods you sell that others pay for. Your estimate, or none reported.
How it works
Choose the Disclosure-Aligned report and upload the accounting export for your latest complete financial year: Xero, Sage 50, or any CSV or Excel ledger.
Your carbon report, its priced transaction ledger and the calculation workbook, with every factor cited.
On your report page: net zero year, target, measures and commuting, then, once your board has approved the plan, the approval date and the director who signs.
The Cabinet Office template filled in (.odt, opens in Word) and the same plan as a PDF for your website.
The rules it follows
From the Cabinet Office's Technical Standard for Completion of Carbon Reduction Plans.
The plan is reviewed and updated within six months of your financial year end, so it is built from your latest complete year.
The standard asks for the factors the UK Government publishes. Petrol, diesel, natural gas, heating oil, electricity and commuting use DESNZ 2026; Scope 3 spend uses the Defra and University of Leeds factors. Any fuel that does not is named in the plan.
There is no requirement to have your carbon footprint audited. The standard asks for the best and latest data you have available, to a reasonable level of assurance.
Upstream transportation and distribution, waste, business travel, employee commuting and downstream transportation and distribution.
The sample plan
Aire Valley Precision Ltd is a fictional company (CNC machining, Leeds, 35 staff). Its plan is built from the same ledger as the published UK sample report, through the same steps a customer takes: it is the company's first footprint, so 2025 is the baseline year, and commuting is an estimate from its headcount and travel.
Price
$299 per financial year: the Disclosure-Aligned carbon report, with the Carbon Reduction Plan included. One payment for each year end, with no subscription and no onboarding call.
Accounting firms preparing plans for clients can buy reports in packs, from $99 a report, under their own firm's name: partner packs.
Frequently asked questions
Who needs a Carbon Reduction Plan?
Suppliers bidding for central government contracts above £5 million a year including VAT, advertised on or after 24 February 2025: where it is relevant and proportionate to the contract, PPN 006 makes the plan a condition of participation, including for contracts under frameworks and dynamic markets of that value. NHS England already asks for one on contracts of £5 million a year or more, and from 1 April 2027 also on new contracts below £5 million a year that are above the published procurement thresholds, where relevant and proportionate; it accepts any current plan prepared under PPN 006 for those.
Does the plan have to be audited?
No. The Technical Standard says there is no requirement to have your carbon footprint audited (paragraph 18). It asks for the best and latest data you have available, to a reasonable level of assurance. Every figure in your report lists the transactions and factors behind it, so a buyer can check it.
Why not use a free calculator?
You can. The Cabinet Office publishes the template free, and free tools produce estimates and plans. What the report adds: Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 calculated from the transactions in your accounts, each with its factor and source cited, the template filled in, and a calculation workbook your buyer can open and check.
What do you need from us?
Your accounting export for your latest complete financial year and, if you have them, the litres and kWh on your fuel and gas bills. Then the answers only you can give: your net zero year, your reduction target, the measures you have taken and plan, a commuting estimate, and, once your board has approved the plan, the approval date and the director who signs it.
How often does it need updating?
Every year. The plan is reviewed and updated within six months of each financial year end (paragraph 11) and published on your UK website. Each year's plan comes with that year's report, at the same price, with no subscription.
Does it meet the NHS requirements from April 2027?
For new NHS contracts below £5 million a year, yes: NHS England accepts a current plan prepared under PPN 006. Contracts of £5 million a year or more and new frameworks need the 2027 NHS plan, which covers all relevant Scope 3 emissions across the GHG Protocol's categories. Your report includes Scope 3 by category from your spend, a starting point for that plan; categories your accounts do not record, such as the use of the products you sell, need data from elsewhere.
Which companies can use it?
A UK company, with accounts for its latest complete financial year. A year can be used until six months after the following year ends, when the next plan is due. The plan compares each year with the baseline, so a part year is refused.
From your accounts to a plan ready to publish.
Upload your latest year's accounting export, answer the plan's questions and download the filled template and a PDF for your website.
Start with your accounts →