he Cabinet Office has published a Carbon Reduction Contract Schedule to assist all central government departments, their executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies with integrating sustainability goals into public procurement contracts. The Schedule has been accompanied by a new Procurement Policy Note (PPN 01/24).
The primary purpose of the Schedule is to reduce contract-level GHG emissions to support the UK government's commitment to achieve net-zero by 2050. As such, it includes T&Cs that support decarbonisation goals, cover reporting of GHG emissions, set targets for suppliers or mandates them to develop reduction plans to actively monitor and mitigate GHG emissions during the contract's duration.
The decision to include any of the T&Cs in contracts is at the discretion of the in-scope organisations. Before incorporating the Schedule or applying it to existing contracts through contract variation, it has been recommended that they evaluate their own understanding of carbon reduction initiatives, the supplier's maturity, the contract's value and estimated carbon emissions, and its criticality.
We recommend all techUK members involved in public contracts or interested in public procurement to familiarise themselves with the Schedule and its implications.
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