Carbon Reduction Plan: 5 Key Steps to Building a Compliant Plan

What is a Carbon Reduction Plan?

A Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) is a public summary of your organisation’s current emissions, your commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050 at the latest, and the actions you’ll take to reduce emissions over time.

In the UK public sector context, Carbon Reduction Plans are required for suppliers bidding on central government contracts above the threshold – first set by PPN 06/21 and, from 2025, updated and referred to as PPN 006. The government provides a standard template and technical rules for what must be included. You need to report Scope 1 and 2, plus a defined subset of Scope 3, publish the plan on your website, update it annually, and have it approved and signed by a director or equivalent.

If you’re not bidding for public sector work, a Carbon Reduction Plan is still useful: it’s a clear, credible way to show customers and investors how you’ll cut emissions in line with Net Zero.

5 Key Steps to a Compliant Carbon Reduction Plan

1) Measure your emissions

Follow the Greenhouse Gas Protocol to calculate your Scope 1, Scope 2, and the required Scope 3 categories. We've written a quick guide to the Scopes here. The required Scope 3 categories are:

• Upstream transport and distribution (things like outsourced logistics)
• Waste generated in operations (like day-to-day office recycling)
• Business travel (vehicle mileages, trains, flights etc)
• Employee commuting (and homeworking if applicable)
• Downstream transport and distribution (other logistics within your value chain)

In practice, that means collecting business activity data – like gas kWh, electricity kWh, litres of fuel, miles travelled, waste tonnage, freight movements, commuting patterns – and converting it into CO₂e using the latest UK government emission factors.

To make this easy, you can use carbon reporting tools like Seedling to streamline data collection and automate the calculations.

Your CRP should report on your latest financial year, cover your UK operations, and be updated within six months of your financial year-end.

2) Make a Net Zero commitment

Your CRP must include a formal organisational commitment to achieve Net Zero by 2050 at the latest. The aligns with the government's own Net Zero commitment (which is now a legal obligation).

Net Zero is often confused with “carbon neutral”. Carbon neutral typically means offsetting current-year emissions by investing in things like tree-planting or renewable energy, without necessarily reducing your own emissions first. Net Zero is different: it’s a long-term pathway where you make deep, real cuts across your value chain, then neutralise only the small residual emissions with high-quality removals.

If you supply the NHS or other specific in-scope buyers, check their guidance too – many signpost the government commitment wording and expectations for CRP content.

3) Set reduction targets

Use your baseline to set science-based targets that align with Net Zero. For SMEs, might mean setting near-term targets toward 2030 plus longer-term targets out to 2050. You can frame your targets via the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which helps businesses to set targets that align with climate science and the global goal to limit warming to 1.5oC.

4) Build your reduction actions

Having measured your emissions and set targets, you’ll now need to show what you’ll actually do to meet those targets. Summarise what’s already in place and, importantly, what will be implemented next. Use a simple structure that turns hotspot analysis into a plan:

• Find your hotspots: rank sources by impact – energy use, fleet fuel, business travel, freight, commuting, and operational waste are common priorities.
• List practical actions per hotspot: examples include energy efficiency measures, switching to renewable electricity, optimising freight and courier choices, sustainable travel policies, using EVs or encouraging employees to do so, and engagement to cut supplier-related emissions.
• Quantify potential reductions: estimate each action’s CO₂e impact and timing so you can map a credible emissions pathway toward your target.
• Prioritise: rank emission reduction actions by impact, cost, and feasibility – and decide what you can commit to. Make a final list for inclusion in your CRP.

5) Sign off and share

PPN requires senior approval. Your CRP must state that it was approved by your board (or equivalent) and signed by a director, with the approval date. Publish the document on your UK website in a prominent location, and keep previous versions live so progress can be tracked. Review your plan and update at least annually.

Carbon Reduction Plan Template

All compliant CRPs used in UK central government procurement must follow the official format.

Use the latest government template and the latest Carbon Reduction Plan technical standard to ensure you’ve included the correct content.

Here’s the exact structure that suppliers need to follow:

1. Supplier name and publication date
2. Commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2050 (or earlier)
3. Baseline year and current emissions – Scopes 1, 2, and required Scope 3 categories
4. Emissions reduction targets
5. Completed carbon reduction projects
6. Planned carbon reduction projects – with timelines and expected impact
7. Declaration – board approval and director sign-off

We’ve put together a really useful (and free) Carbon Reduction Plan Template which is based on the government version but includes more guidance and helpful advice along the way.

Carbon Reduction Plan Example

Alongside the template, it’s also helpful to see a live, filled-in Carbon Reduction Plan example. Here’s an example from one of our clients (Summit Medical) which hits all the basics, and goes above and beyond in terms of the level of thought and detail around reduction planning.

For something specific to your sector, you should have a look at competitor websites. If they’ve published a CRP, it’ll likely be in the footer with a link that says “Carbon Reduction Plan” – seeing what other, similar businesses are committing to on the carbon reduction front can be a very useful starting point and sense check.

Carbon Reduction Plan Support - from Seedling

Seedling is built for small and mid-sized teams to measure, reduce and report their emissions – and our dedicated Carbon Reduction Plan reporting tool makes compliance a breeze.

Here’s how we help:

• Measure: We help you collect the right data across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, and calculate a GHG Protocol-compliant footprint straight away, checked by our experts. Our employee survey captures commuting and home-working data and calculates emissions in the background – you just need to share a link.
• Analyse and plan: Your dashboard highlights emission hotspots. With our modelling tools and adviser support, you turn insights into a practical decarbonisation plan that maps reductions against your targets.
• Targets: Model science-based Net Zero targets in line with SBTi guidance – and track progress.
• Report: Generate a PPN-compliant Carbon Reduction Plan in clicks, alongside other key reports like SECR, B Corp transition plans, and client-ready GHG inventories – ready to share on your website or as a link.
• Support: A dedicated adviser keeps the process quick and accurate, closing data gaps and avoiding common pitfalls.

If you’re bidding for UK public sector work, we’ll make sure your CRP follows the latest PPN 006 template and technical standard. We can work to your timelines - our record is 2 days!

Get started for free here or book in a call with one of our experts.