PPN 06/21 Carbon Reduction Plan
The UK Government amended the Climate Change Act 2008 in 2019 by introducing a target of at least a 100% reduction in the net UK carbon account (i.e. reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 1990 levels) by 2050. This is otherwise known as the ‘Net Zero’ target.
This has resulted in a procurement policy note (PPN 06/21) that applies to all new procurements with a contract value of £5 million+ (excl vat) being run by Central Government Departments, their Executive Agencies and Non Departmental Public Bodies from 30th September 2021. The £5+ million figure referred to above is an overall contract value and not just the spend with your agency. It will apply to any framework, DPS or call-off that you bid for where the buyer anticipates the total spend will exceed £5 million over the full life of the contract. Given that most contracts can run for a number of years, it is anticipated that this PPN will apply to most new procurements.
What does this mean in practice?
What this means in practice is that there will be a new pass/fail section included in the Selection Questionnaire (SQ) of in-scope procurements made up of the following standard questions (as a result of PPN 06/21 Carbon Reduction Plan):
1. Please confirm that you have detailed your environmental management measures by completing and publishing a Carbon Reduction Plan which meets the required reporting standard (and provide a link to your most recently published Carb1. on Reduction Plan).
This is Yes / No answer. To pass this question you will need to answer YES and provide a link to your published Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP). The CRP must include specific information and declarations, be updated at least annually and be published clearly on your website.
2. Please confirm that your organisation is taking steps to reduce your GHG Emissions over time and is publicly committed to achieving Net Zero by 2050.
This is a Yes / No answer. To pass this question, you must answer YES.
3. You will then be required to detail your scope 1, scope 2 and scope 3 emissions for both your baseline year and your current year in a pre-formatted table/directly onto the portal.
Your baseline year is the year that you first started reporting (for most agencies this will be 2021) and will cover the greenhouse gases that you produced prior to the introduction of new strategies to reduce emissions. The baseline is therefore the reference date against which future emissions reduction will be measured.
Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions will need to be measured on an ongoing basis so that you can quote figures for the current year to demonstrate your progress towards Net Zero emissions by your target date (which cannot be later than 2050).
The details you will be required to report on for point 3 above are as follows:
- Scope 1 – Direct greenhouse gas emissions that come from sources you control (e.g. central heating boilers).
- Scope 2 – Energy indirect greenhouse gas emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, heating or cooling etc.
- Scope 3 – These fall into 15 categories (not all of which need to be reported on) and include greenhouse gas sources not covered by scopes 1 and 2 above.
PPN 06/21 supporting documents and Brunton Bid Writing templates
Details of the requirements and supporting documents to supply complying with PPN 06/21 can be found on the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0621-taking-account-of-carbon-reduction-plans-in-the-procurement-of-major-government-contracts
To help with this requirement, Brunton Bid Writing has produced a Carbon Reduction Plan template which has been reviewed by our Environmental Consultants (The Clean Tech Business Group). In addition to the template, it also provides some free and low cost resources that may help you to measure and analyse your carbon footprint.
We have also revised our Environmental Policy template in alignment with the above requirements.
If you wish to discuss this further, please call us on 01688 400319 or email fiona.brunton@bruntonconsultancy.co.uk.