NHS Evergreen and supplier sustainability FAQs

A Carbon Reduction Plan, or CRP, records your net zero commitment, emissions and the actions you are taking to reduce them. Whether you need a full CRP or another form of carbon commitment depends on the procurement. NHS requirements extend beyond high-value contracts, and the rules change again for procurements starting from April 2027. Check your tender before choosing a template.

PPN 006 does not require your carbon footprint to be audited. Under the April 2026 Evergreen criteria, independent emissions verification is not required for Levels 1 and 2, but is required at Levels 3 and 4. Target validation is a separate requirement at those higher levels. Check the level you are aiming for and any additional tender conditions before commissioning verification.

A verifier examines the emissions report and supporting calculations against an agreed standard and scope. They may check the reporting boundary, source data, emission factors, assumptions and exclusions, then document their conclusion and any limitations. Agree the deliverable before commissioning the work. A calculation check or consultancy review is not automatically the same as formal independent verification.

You may do. PPN 006 applies to specified central government procurements; it does not make a CRP compulsory for every council contract. A council can still ask for one through its own procurement requirements. Read the actual question, template and conditions of participation, then check that your plan covers the entity, reporting period and emissions the buyer has asked for.

Use the current government template. It asks for a net zero commitment for 2050 or earlier, baseline and current emissions, reduction targets, carbon reduction measures, and an approval declaration. Emissions must cover Scope 1, Scope 2 and the five specified Scope 3 categories. The plan also needs the required director-level sign-off and website publication. A general sustainability policy will not do the same job.

Yes. You do not have to pay a consultant to prepare it. The important part is having a defensible calculation and a plan that meets the buyer's requirements. Keep the source records and assumptions behind every figure, check the reporting boundary, and arrange approval and publication. If you want a second pair of eyes, I can review the plan you have already prepared.

They are upstream transportation and distribution, waste generated in operations, business travel, employee commuting, and downstream transportation and distribution. These are categories 4, 5, 6, 7 and 9 in the GHG Protocol. They sit alongside Scope 1 and Scope 2. The expanded 2027 NHS CRP goes further by asking for all relevant Scope 3 categories.

No. Zero means there are no emissions to report for that activity within your boundary; it does not mean nobody has collected the data. Distinguish between zero, a category that is not relevant and information that is missing. Explain any gap and how you will address it. Whether an explanation is acceptable is for the buyer to decide under the applicable requirements.

Yes, where the reporting method allows it. An estimate should have a clear basis, such as activity data or spend combined with an appropriate emission factor. Record the source, reporting year, assumptions and limitations so someone else can follow the calculation. Improve the data over time. An unexplained number is not a useful estimate.

Choose a period for which you have reliable, sufficiently complete data and explain why you chose it. For a first CRP, the baseline and current reporting year can be the same. Keep the boundary and methods consistent when tracking progress. Significant structural or methodology changes may require a baseline recalculation; a disappointing result is not a reason to quietly choose a new starting point.

First check whether you are comparing like with like. Growth, newly included activities, better data or a changed calculation method can affect the total. Explain those changes separately from reductions achieved through action. A lower emissions figure per employee or per pound of revenue can be useful context, but it does not necessarily mean your total emissions have fallen.

Sometimes. Under PPN 006, the supplier must be wholly owned by the parent, the commitment must explicitly apply to it and the environmental measures must be applicable to it. The plan must also be published on the bidding supplier's website. Treat a parent plan as a permitted arrangement with conditions, not automatic coverage just because the company names are related. PPN 006 expects the supplier to produce its own plan as soon as reasonably practicable.

Update it annually. PPN 006 guidance recommends completing the update within six months of your financial year-end. Refresh the emissions, progress and planned measures, then obtain the required approval and publish the new version. Keep the publication date and reporting period clear: tender checks look at the age of the plan and the underlying data, not just the date on the cover.

Usually, if it is current, covers the correct bidding entity and meets each buyer's requirements. PPN 006 is intended to support a standard published plan, rather than a new document for every bid. Still check for additional conditions. A plan with the five specified Scope 3 categories will not automatically meet the expanded 2027 NHS requirement.

Scope 3 data often gets better over time. Start by identifying your most important emissions sources, recording the data you have and being clear about estimates and assumptions. Where you work with suppliers to improve data or reduce emissions, keep a record of what changed and the evidence behind it. Better primary data and a clear audit trail are more useful than waiting until every figure is perfect.

It means the emissions your product or service could help someone else avoid, compared with what they would otherwise use or do. For example, a remote NHS appointment might avoid a car journey. You would still need to include the technology’s impact and check that the appointment really replaces a visit. “Scope 4” is an informal name for avoided emissions, not an extra category in your Scope 1, 2 and 3 footprint. A fair comparison looks at the whole life cycle and explains the assumptions.

No—don’t subtract avoided emissions from your Scope 1, 2 or 3 totals. Your CRP still needs to report your own footprint and how you plan to reduce it. If your product helps customers cut emissions, you can explain that benefit separately, with evidence. Say what you compared it with, over what period, what you included and how you estimated the saving. I would start with a claim you can support, rather than a headline number that depends on optimistic assumptions.

There are two tiers for new procurements starting from 1 April 2027. The expanded 2027 CRP generally applies at £5 million a year or more, including VAT, and to new NHS frameworks and dynamic markets regardless of value. Proportionality provisions apply. Below £5 million but above the relevant procurement threshold, the 2024 CRP generally continues. Check the procurement route as well as the contract value.

The main changes are the geographical boundary and Scope 3 coverage. The 2024 requirement uses a UK boundary as a minimum and five specified Scope 3 categories. The 2027 requirement covers the chosen reporting entity globally and all relevant Scope 3 categories. The minimum net zero commitment remains 2050 or earlier; a 2045 target is encouraged, not the minimum CRP test.

Evergreen Level 2 is aligned with the expanded 2027 carbon requirements: a global boundary and all relevant Scope 3 emissions. That makes it a useful reference when planning the work. It does not mean a Level 2 score automatically replaces a CRP, or that every tender requires that level. Check the CRP and Evergreen requirements separately.

Yes. I can review what you already have, check which requirements apply to your next tender and identify the gaps. You may need better Scope 3 coverage, a clearer reporting boundary or updated calculations rather than a complete rewrite. I will explain which changes are needed now and which are preparation for a later requirement.

Social value is the additional benefit a contract can create for people, communities and the environment. That might include useful training, fair employment or a measurable environmental improvement. The benefit should relate to the contract and go beyond simply delivering what the buyer is already paying for. A list of company-wide good deeds is rarely a complete answer.

NHS policy provides for a minimum 10% weighting for net zero and social value, with the detail set in the procurement documents. Check the selected outcomes, scoring criteria and evidence the buyer wants. Do not assume every NHS tender uses National TOMs or requires a monetary value. Explain what you will deliver, how you will measure it and how you will report progress.

Use the outcomes selected in your tender. The current government Social Value Model is set out in PPN 002, and NHS England's Social Value Playbook explains its application. Older lists of five themes, including COVID-19 recovery, should not be treated as a current NHS-wide checklist. Answer the buyer's chosen questions instead of trying to cover every possible theme.

Make a small number of commitments you can actually deliver. For each one, explain who benefits, what will happen, who owns it, when it will happen and how you will measure the result. Show how it relates to this contract. Past examples can demonstrate capability, but the buyer also needs to understand what you are committing to do next.

No. Evergreen and a tender's social value response serve different purposes. Some evidence may support both, but an Evergreen level does not answer the buyer's contract-specific social value questions. Keep the commitments consistent across your bid, CRP and supporting policies, and answer each requirement in its own right.

Modern slavery includes forced labour, servitude and human trafficking. Risk can sit in your own operations, recruitment arrangements or further down a product's supply chain. For an NHS supplier, the practical task is to understand where workers may be at risk, take proportionate steps to prevent harm and know how to respond if a concern is raised.

The legal reporting duty generally applies to a company or partnership that supplies goods or services, carries on a business or part of one in the UK, and has annual turnover of at least £36 million. That turnover includes subsidiaries worldwide. Below the threshold, a buyer can still request a statement or other evidence. Small size does not remove supply-chain risk or contractual requirements.

A policy sets out your commitments and how you intend to manage risk. An annual statement explains the steps you actually took during the financial year. For companies covered by the reporting duty, the statement must have board approval, a director's signature and website publication with a prominent homepage link. Neither document should claim checks, training or supplier engagement that never happened.

Start with the risk, then decide what evidence would help you understand it. You might ask about manufacturing locations, labour recruiters, recruitment fees, subcontracting, worker complaints and how concerns are handled. Check the answers and follow up on gaps or warning signs. A signed questionnaire or a statement on a website is a starting point, not proof that workers are safe.

Yes. A UK address does not tell you where products were made or how workers were recruited. Imported goods, subcontractors and agency labour can all create risks beyond your immediate supplier. Make proportionate checks based on the product, workforce and supply chain, rather than treating UK registration as a guarantee.

From 17 May 2026, new regulations placed duties on relevant public bodies to assess modern slavery risks in NHS procurement and take reasonable steps to address them. Suppliers may therefore face more specific questions, evidence requests and contract obligations. This did not create a new blanket requirement for every small supplier to publish a statutory statement; check what your particular procurement requires.

Put people's safety first and use your safeguarding or escalation procedure. Do not confront a suspected exploiter or put a worker at further risk. In the UK, call 999 if someone is in immediate danger. For concerns or advice, contact the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline on 0800 0121 700. Keep information secure and seek specialist advice on safe next steps.

No. NHS supplier support is one part of my work. I work across multiple sectors, including healthcare, legal services and commercial real estate, and have worked with organisations in the UK, the US and Australia. My sustainability experience is rooted in commercial real estate, with a strong grounding in reporting, GRESB and climate resilience. My work today also includes supporting a legal firm with its wider ESG strategy. Whatever the sector, I start by understanding how your business operates, the requirements you face and where you can make a meaningful difference. If the work needs a specialist beyond my expertise, I can draw on my partner network.

Yes. My Evergreen Assessment and Evidence Review service covers both situations. I review the assessment and supporting evidence, identify the gaps and give you a practical plan for addressing them. The review does not automatically include new emissions calculations or a full set of replacement documents. If further work is needed, we agree that separately.

Yes. If you want someone to take the sustainability paperwork and coordination off your hands, I can manage your Evergreen submission from start to finish. That can include organising the evidence requests, following up with your team or suppliers with your permission, calculating emissions, preparing your Carbon Reduction Plan and Modern Slavery Statement, and drafting and completing the assessment responses. I manage the work and keep you clear on what I need from you. You provide access to business records, confirm the facts and approve the documents and commitments. You do not need to work through the whole questionnaire yourself. We agree the scope, fee and submission arrangements at the start. Where authorised portal access is available and permitted, I can complete the submission on your behalf after your approval. Otherwise, we complete it together in a guided session with you signed in. I stay involved through submission and help you understand the result and any next actions.

No. I can check your evidence, explain the criteria and help you address gaps, but I cannot award an Evergreen level or control the NHS assessment process. Your organisation is responsible for the accuracy of its answers and for implementing the commitments it makes. I will be clear about any unresolved issues before you submit.

Start with a free introductory call. Tell me your deadline, what the buyer is asking for and how much of the work you want me to handle. You can hand over the preparation and coordination from start to finish, ask me to deliver particular documents, or keep the work in-house with technical mentoring. I will confirm the deliverables, information needed from you, portal completion arrangements, timetable and fee before work starts. We also agree whether you need a one-off submission or ongoing help with updates. Any additional work is agreed in advance.

Technical mentoring is for people doing the work themselves who want someone to talk the detail through with. You might be a sustainability lead, bid manager or business owner working on Evergreen, carbon reporting or supplier evidence. You do not need to have bought a review first. It is advice and guidance; document production and calculations are agreed separately.

I use AI tools much as I'd use a capable junior or research assistant, to speed up drafting, summarising and first-pass analysis. Nothing I produce with AI is something I couldn't produce myself. What changes is the volume and the pace. The thinking, the judgement and the recommendations are mine. AI helps me get to the point faster. It doesn't decide what the point is. I read and check every word before it reaches you. If it's in a document I've sent, I understand it, I stand behind it, and I'm happy to be questioned on any of it. Your confidential information is protected by the same confidentiality obligations as the rest of our work. I minimise what I share with AI tools and use anonymised or aggregated information wherever possible. Confidential information or personal data is only used where we've agreed the approach in writing and suitable terms, settings and safeguards are in place, including exclusion from model training. Retention is assessed separately, as explained in my privacy notice. Anything flagged as sensitive stays out of AI tools entirely. My confidentiality and IP obligations under our contract apply exactly as they always have. Everything I deliver belongs to you on the terms we've agreed, regardless of which tools helped produce it. And if you'd prefer I didn't use AI on your work at all, I'm open to that conversation. It would mean revisiting timelines and cost, since the manual route is slower, but I'd much rather we agree the approach together than leave it as an unspoken concern.

I'm building Evergreen with those same questions in mind: where can I make a meaningful difference, and what needs to change as the business grows? Some choices are already in place. I work remotely first, use a second-hand laptop and office furniture, and want to work with clients and partners who respect these values. I've also passed work to a specialist partner, including work arising from a project in France. I support the National Trust, helping safeguard the landscape I love. The next steps need more investigation. I'm reviewing choices such as where I bank, the software and subscriptions I use, and the environmental impact of my digital work. AI is a particular priority: I want to understand both how I use it and the providers and infrastructure behind it, so I can make better-informed choices for my own business and help clients do the same. As Evergreen grows, I want to bring in people who share that commitment to high-quality work and responsible social and environmental practices. I'm also exploring initiatives such as 1% for the Planet, Planet Mark and B Corp. These are possibilities I'm assessing, rather than credentials I currently hold. That same approach shapes my client work. I've worked in sustainability since 2010, and I want to understand how each business actually operates: what matters most, where its impacts sit and where it has the influence to change things. A strategy should come from that understanding. Small improvements have their place, but I also want to work with the people across a business to identify the bigger changes that could make a meaningful difference. The aim is practical, ambitious action that fits the organisation and changes how it operates. I haven't finished working through all of this myself. Building responsibly means being open about that, questioning my own choices and putting what I learn into practice.

I've built a wide network of sustainability professionals around the world, with different specialisms, sector experience and local knowledge. I actively draw on that network, whether that means working together or passing an opportunity to someone better placed to help. If a project is based in New York, I can turn to my contact there. If it needs a deep understanding of a particular sector, such as coffee, I know specialists whose knowledge goes much further than mine. The starting point is what the client needs and who can do the work well. That gives Evergreen access to a breadth of expertise beyond a single person, with the flexibility to bring together the right people for each project. I also want to grow the business itself. I'm looking for people who share my values and want an active role in developing Evergreen: shaping the offer, winning work and delivering it well. The partnership I'm exploring starts with agreed payment for client delivery, without a guaranteed salary at the outset, and a potential route towards shared ownership. The details would be agreed together.

Interested in building Evergreen with me? Join Joanna to read about the proposed partnership and start a conversation.

Yes. I'm there to consult and advise, and that includes questioning the brief. If I think you're putting time and money into something that will have little effect, overlooking a significant impact or making a commitment your evidence doesn't support, I'll explain why and talk through a better approach. That starts with getting under the skin of your business: how it operates, what matters most, where its impacts sit and what your teams can influence. Small improvements can be useful, but I also want to help you identify the bigger changes that could make a meaningful difference. You bring the knowledge of your organisation; I bring experience, an outside perspective and constructive challenge. We work through the options together.

Absolutely. That's exactly what my technical mentoring is for. It's particularly valuable if sustainability is part of your remit, your budget is limited and you're expected to deliver the work yourself. Think of me as the passenger with the map: you're firmly in the driving seat. I'm alongside you to help spot pitfalls, talk through decisions, encourage good practice and build your confidence in the work you're doing. That might mean short-term support to work through a particular challenge, review a document or get a project moving. Or it can become a longer-term relationship through my Partner programme, with regular conversations, constructive challenge and accountability to help you keep making progress. You keep ownership of the work and the decisions. My role is to help you build the knowledge and confidence to carry them forward.

Look for the assessment's full name, a required maturity level, the date it must be valid and the evidence you must provide. Check the conditions of participation and framework instructions as well as the questionnaire. A carbon question on its own does not necessarily mean Evergreen is required. If the wording is unclear, ask the buyer through the tender clarification process.

Yes. You can ask me to manage the sustainability work around your tender or Evergreen submission so it does not become another project for you to run. I start with the records you already have and give you a focused list of information to send or confirm. I organise the evidence, prepare the agreed calculations and documents, and coordinate the work through to submission. You will still need to make business decisions, confirm information and approve the final documents and declarations. I explain what needs your attention and when. If you want me to keep managing annual updates and evidence reviews, we can agree ongoing support too.

You will work directly with me, Joanna Whitear. Evergreen Assessment is my independent consultancy service, provided through Kintera; it is not run by or affiliated with NHS England. I help suppliers interpret requirements, organise their evidence and prepare their submissions. The official Evergreen assessment and decisions about procurement remain with the NHS and the relevant buyer.