More tenders now include a sustainability section, and for many smaller contractors the first carbon question arrives before there's any carbon data to answer it with. The instinct is to skip it or write something vague. Both cost marks.
You don't need a full sustainability programme to give a credible answer. You need a baseline, a policy, and an honest next step. This guide shows how to build all three from records you already keep, with a worked example, a template answer you can adapt, and the mistakes that lose points.
Why the questions are arriving now
Carbon questions are flowing down the supply chain because your clients have to report and reduce their own emissions, and your emissions are part of theirs. What counts as your scope 1 and 2 shows up in their scope 3, usually under "purchased goods and services". A client can't set a credible reduction target without some idea of what its contractors emit.
Some of the pressure comes from regulation and procurement rules:
- UK public sector. Bidders for major central government contracts must publish a Carbon Reduction Plan, a requirement introduced as PPN 06/21. Many local authorities, housing associations and frameworks now ask similar questions on smaller contracts.
- Large companies' reporting duties. Disclosure rules in the UK, the EU and some US states push large companies to measure and report value chain emissions, and they ask their suppliers for data.
- Client net zero targets. Many large clients have public targets, often validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, and those targets cover their supply chain.
The practical result is the same: questions such as "Do you measure your carbon emissions?", "Describe your carbon reduction plan" and "What were your scope 1 and 2 emissions last year?" now show up in prequalification questionnaires and tender scoring, sometimes with a real share of the marks.
What evaluators are actually looking for
Evaluators rarely expect a small contractor to have a mature programme. They score whether you:
- Know your footprint, even approximately, and how you calculated it.
- Have a policy with named responsibility, not a statement nobody owns.
- Are doing specific things to reduce emissions, ideally with a number attached.
- Have a credible plan for what comes next, including the gaps you haven't closed yet.
- Will report on this contract if asked, for example fuel use or waste for their scheme.
Evaluators reward specific, honest answers over ambitious, vague ones.
A short answer with a real number, a named owner and two concrete actions will usually outscore a page of commitments to "net zero" with nothing behind them.
The three scopes, in contractor terms
The GHG Protocol splits emissions into three scopes. For a small contractor, the first two cover most of what you can measure today:
| Scope | What it covers | Contractor examples | Where the data is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope 1: fuel you burn | Direct emissions from sources you own or control | Diesel in vans, plant and generators; petrol cars; gas or oil for heating; refrigerant leaks from air conditioning | Fuel cards, fuel delivery invoices, plant hire records (if you buy the fuel), gas bills |
| Scope 2: electricity you buy | Emissions from generating the electricity you use | Office, yard, workshop, site cabins on your own supply, charging electric vans at your premises | Electricity bills and meter readings |
| Scope 3: everything else in your value chain | Indirect emissions you don't control | Materials (concrete, steel, aggregates), subcontractors, deliveries, waste, business travel, staff commuting | Purchase ledger, supplier data, waste transfer notes, expense claims |
Scope 3 matters, and for most contractors it's by far the biggest share, mostly from materials. But it's the hardest to measure. It's fine to say you're working towards it, as long as you say how.
Grey areas worth deciding up front
- Hired plant. If you buy the fuel, count it in scope 1. If the hire company supplies fuel and charges for it, it's normally their scope 1 and your scope 3. Pick a rule, write it down and apply it consistently.
- Site electricity on a client's supply. If the client pays the bill, it isn't your scope 2.
- Company cars and grey fleet. Fuel for company-owned or leased cars is scope 1. Staff using their own cars for business with mileage claims is scope 3 business travel.
A minimum viable carbon answer
Step 1: measure a baseline year
Pick the most recent full financial or calendar year where you have complete records. Total up:
- Diesel and petrol in litres (or gallons), from fuel card statements and bulk delivery invoices.
- Gas in kWh (or therms), from bills.
- Electricity in kWh, from bills, for each premises you pay for.
Then convert each one using published emission factors. In the UK, use the government's annual greenhouse gas conversion factors for company reporting, from DESNZ. In the US, use the EPA's GHG Emission Factors Hub, with eGRID factors for electricity in your region. Always use the factor set for the year you're reporting, and say which one you used.
Emissions are reported in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e): litres × factor gives kilograms, so divide by 1,000.
A worked example
Here is a 30-person groundworks contractor with 12 vans, some owned plant and one office and yard. The emission factors are illustrative, close to recent UK government values; use the current published figures for your own calculation.
| Source | Annual use | Illustrative factor | Emissions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diesel (vans and owned plant) | 48,000 litres | 2.51 kg CO₂e per litre | 120.5 tCO₂e |
| Natural gas (office heating) | 25,000 kWh | 0.183 kg CO₂e per kWh | 4.6 tCO₂e |
| Scope 1 total | 125.1 tCO₂e | ||
| Electricity (office, yard, workshop) | 40,000 kWh | 0.207 kg CO₂e per kWh | 8.3 tCO₂e |
| Scope 2 total | 8.3 tCO₂e | ||
| Scope 1 and 2 total | 133.4 tCO₂e |
Two things stand out, and they're typical. First, diesel is over 90% of the footprint, so that's where reduction actions should focus. Second, the whole calculation came from fuel cards and three utility bills, and took an afternoon.
It's also worth giving an intensity figure, which lets you show progress as the business grows. If this contractor turned over £6 million, its intensity is 133.4 ÷ 6 = 22.2 tCO₂e per £1 million of turnover. Some clients ask for emissions per employee or per project instead.
Step 2: write a short environmental or carbon policy
One page is enough. It should say:
- What you commit to: measuring and reporting scope 1 and 2 annually, reducing them, and working with clients and suppliers on scope 3.
- Who's responsible: a named director with overall responsibility, and a named person who maintains the figures.
- How often you'll review it: at least annually, signed and dated.
If a tender specifically asks for a Carbon Reduction Plan (common in UK public sector work), the expected format is more specific: a baseline year and its emissions, current emissions, a commitment to reach net zero by 2050 at the latest, the reduction measures you've taken and plan to take, and a signature from a director. It's normally published on your website.
Step 3: name two or three concrete actions
Choose actions that match your biggest sources and that you're actually doing or will do. For a contractor where diesel dominates, credible options include:
- Reducing plant and vehicle idling, with an anti-idling rule in site inductions and telematics alerts where you have them.
- Right-sizing plant, so a smaller excavator or generator does the job where it can.
- Using hybrid or battery generators and lighting towers on sites with intermittent demand.
- Consolidating deliveries and planning routes to cut van miles.
- Switching some vans to electric as leases come up, starting with predictable, shorter routes.
- Using HVO (renewable diesel) where available, and recording it separately, since it carries a much lower factor.
- Switching your premises to a renewable electricity tariff, while being clear this mainly affects market-based scope 2 reporting.
Attach a number wherever you can: "We fitted telematics to all 12 vans in March and cut idling time by roughly a third" is far stronger than "We are reducing idling".
Step 4: say what's next
End with a specific, honest commitment, for example:
"We will report scope 1 and 2 annually from our 2025 baseline, set a reduction target by mid-2027, and begin measuring material and waste emissions on our largest projects next year."
That shows evaluators a direction of travel and gives you something real to report against next year.
A template answer you can adapt
Here's a response structure for a typical question such as "Describe how you measure and reduce your carbon emissions":
Measurement. We measure our scope 1 and 2 emissions annually using the GHG Protocol and [UK government / EPA] conversion factors. In our [2025] baseline year, our emissions were [125.1] tCO₂e (scope 1) and [8.3] tCO₂e (scope 2, location-based), a total of [133.4] tCO₂e, or [22.2] tCO₂e per £1m turnover. Fuel for our vehicles and plant accounts for over [90]% of this.
Responsibility. [Name, role] has overall responsibility for our environmental policy, reviewed annually and last signed on [date]. [Name] maintains our emissions data.
Reduction actions. Because fuel is our largest source, our actions focus there: [action and result], [action and result], and [action and timescale].
On this contract. We will [record fuel use for plant on site / use hybrid generators / segregate waste and report diversion rates] and can report these figures to you [monthly / at completion].
Next steps. We are working towards measuring our scope 3 emissions, starting with materials and waste on our largest projects in [year], and will set a reduction target by [date].
Replace every bracket with your real figures. If you can't fill a bracket honestly, leave that sentence out rather than guessing.
Common mistakes that lose marks
- Claiming carbon neutrality based on offsets alone. Evaluators and regulators increasingly treat offset-based claims sceptically. Lead with reductions; if you buy offsets, say so separately and name the standard.
- Quoting a figure without a method. Always state the year, the scopes covered, and the factor source.
- Mixing kilograms and tonnes, or quoting a number that's 1,000 times off. A 30-person contractor emitting 133,400 tonnes should prompt a second look.
- Using a renewable tariff to claim zero scope 2 without saying how you report it. Give the location-based figure, and the market-based one too if you use it.
- Copying another company's policy. Evaluators notice generic text, and it rarely matches the actions you list.
- Ignoring contract-specific questions. "What will you do on this project?" needs an answer about this project, not just your company policy.
Keep it up to date
A baseline is only useful if you can repeat it. Set yourself up so next year's report takes an hour:
- Keep a simple emissions register: a spreadsheet with one row per month and columns for litres of diesel, litres of petrol, kWh of gas and kWh of electricity. Ten minutes a month from fuel card statements and bills keeps it current.
- Record the factor set you used and update it each year when new factors are published.
- Keep the evidence: fuel card exports and bills, filed with the register, so you can show your workings if a client asks.
- Add one scope 3 category a year, starting with the one your clients ask about most. For contractors that's usually purchased materials, waste or business travel.
The second report takes a fraction of the time of the first, and it's what lets you show progress, which is what evaluators most want to see.
Going further, when you're ready
Once the basics are in place, a few next steps carry real weight with larger clients:
- Setting a target, for example through the SBTi's streamlined route for small and medium-sized companies.
- ISO 14001 environmental management certification, which some frameworks ask for or score.
- PAS 2080, the carbon management standard for buildings and infrastructure, which major infrastructure clients increasingly expect their supply chain to understand.
- Project-level carbon reporting, so you can tell a client the footprint of their specific job.
None of these is needed to answer your first carbon question well.
The bottom line
Clients increasingly need their suppliers' numbers for their own reporting. Contractors who can supply even a simple scope 1 and 2 figure, with a named owner and a couple of real actions, are easier to work with, and that shows up in the scoring. Start with last year's fuel card statements and utility bills: by the end of the afternoon you'll have a baseline, and you'll be ahead of most of your competitors on the next tender.