Carbon reporting for UK suppliers
Being asked for a Carbon Reduction Plan, or carbon figures in a tender? Send us your bills, invoices and records. We turn them into your footprint, an NHS-ready plan and drafted tender answers, with every number traced back to a document.
Founding places open: fixed price, delivered in 10 working daysWhy now
The NHS and other public buyers now expect suppliers to show their emissions and a plan to cut them, and large private customers are sending carbon questionnaires too. For a business without a sustainability team, it usually lands on a director with a deadline.
Above the procurement threshold, NHS buyers ask for a published Carbon Reduction Plan. If it's missing or incomplete, the bid fails before the rest is read.
At least 10% of the marks go to net zero and social value. Answers built on your real figures score better than general promises.
Contracts worth £5m+ a year, and every new NHS framework, will need a fuller plan covering worldwide emissions and all relevant Scope 3.
How it works
About two hours of your team's time. We do the rest, and you stay in control of every number.
Energy bills, fuel cards, mileage claims, waste notes and a supplier spend export. We send a simple checklist.
Each figure is multiplied by the UK government's official conversion factor, following the GHG Protocol. We check any gaps with you.
A second reviewer checks the plan, then a director signs its declaration and we help you publish it.
Drafted answers to the carbon questions in your next tender, built on your own figures.
What you receive
Here's a sample pack for an example 40-person facilities company. Yours is built from your own bills, in the format NHS buyers check against.
Example Services Ltd is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2045.
| Scope | Main sources | Baseline 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|
| Scope 1 | Van fleet diesel, office gas | 19.96 |
| Scope 2 | Purchased electricity | 2.16 |
| Scope 3 | Waste, business travel, commuting, deliveries | 9.12 |
| Total | 31.24 |
Reduce total emissions by 25% by March 2030 and 50% by March 2035, against the 2025/26 baseline.
Replace four of nine diesel vans with electric vans by 2028 · switch to a renewable electricity tariff · route planning to cut fleet mileage.
We measure our full operational footprint each year using the GHG Protocol and UK Government conversion factors. In 2025/26 it was 31.2 tCO₂e, with 41% from our van fleet. Our published Carbon Reduction Plan commits to net zero by 2045, and for this contract we will deploy electric vans first on the routes serving your sites…
The difference
Scope 1 and 2, plus the Scope 3 categories buyers ask about, calculated from your own records.
In the government's PPN 006 format, with your net zero commitment and reduction measures, ready to sign and publish.
Where every figure came from, so you can answer a buyer's question in seconds.
Drafted responses to one live tender section or customer questionnaire of your choice.
A short list of missing data and how to collect it before next year.
Figures more than 18 months old can fail an NHS bid. We refresh yours each year.
Who it's for
Usually 20 to 250 people, and being asked for carbon information by someone you sell to.
Facilities, cleaning, security, transport, building services, IT and healthcare suppliers bidding for public contracts and frameworks.
Subcontractors and suppliers receiving carbon questionnaires from contractors, facilities firms and retailers.
Hand us the carbon section for your clients' bids, so it never holds a submission up.
Pricing
Why Plainscope exists
The NHS can't reach its climate targets on its own, so the work is moving down the supply chain. Most of those suppliers are small businesses with no sustainability team, no spare time and no clear place to start. When reporting is too hard, good suppliers lose bids and emissions go unmeasured.
Plainscope makes measuring and cutting emissions simple enough for any supplier to do properly, so the businesses doing the work can prove it, keep winning it and keep improving.
Source: Grantham Research Institute, LSE, on the NHS net zero strategy.
FAQ
For most NHS contracts above the procurement threshold, yes: it's a pass or fail requirement. Below the threshold it isn't required, though tenders can still score carbon questions. Tell us what you're bidding for and we'll tell you honestly whether you need one.
We calculate from your own records using the UK government's official greenhouse gas conversion factors and the GHG Protocol method. Every figure links back to the document it came from. Where something has to be estimated, such as emissions from supplier spend, we say so in the plan.
Usually about two hours of your time to gather bills and records. Once we have them, you receive the finished documents within 10 working days. That covers the calculations, checking any gaps with you, and a second review before you sign. Bid deadline sooner? Tell us and we'll see what we can do.
The NHS and government require the plan to follow the PPN 006 standard and be signed off by a director; they don't require independent verification. We build your plan to that standard and check it before you sign.
We use it only to prepare your documents. We never sell it, and you can ask us to delete it at any time. See our privacy notice.
Still have a question? Email us.
Get in touch
We'll reply within one working day to arrange a 20-minute call. No obligation.
Or email hello@plainscope.co.uk · By sending this form you agree to our privacy notice.