Questions

1The rules

These answers are a guide to the rules as their sources state them, not legal advice. Check the source for your situation.

1.1 What is a Carbon Reduction Plan?

A Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) is a short summary of your carbon footprint and your plan to reduce it: your Scope 1 and 2 emissions, five Scope 3 categories, and a commitment to net zero by 2050 at the latest. It sits alongside your full footprint; it doesn't replace it.

What a plan must contain →

1.2 Who needs one?

Under Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 006, suppliers bidding for central government contracts worth more than £5 million a year (including VAT) are asked for one. The NHS asks for one too, with more on its larger contracts from 1 April 2027 (1.8).

1.3 Is a CRP pass or fail?

For an in-scope bid, the plan is pass or fail. PPN 006 guidance also lists a reporting period more than 18 months before the tender notice, without an explanation, as a reason to fail one.

1.4 Where do I publish it, and how often do I update it?

On your UK website, with a link in a prominent place on your homepage. It's good practice to keep earlier plans there too. If you don't have a website, the standard says you "must provide a copy of the statement in writing to anyone who requests one within 30 days". Update it at least once a year: PPN 006 asks for a review within 6 months of your financial year-end, and your compliance calendar shows the date.

1.5 Who signs it?

Your board (or equivalent management body) approves it, and the plan states the date. A director (or equivalent) signs it off, with their name, job title and the date; no physical signature is needed. In Scopterra, a director signs, and the person who signs is never the person who built the plan.

1.6 Does my footprint need to be audited?

No. The PPN 006 technical standard says "there is no requirement to have your carbon footprint audited."

1.7 What is a Central Digital Platform record, and do I need one?

If you bid for UK public sector contracts under the Procurement Act 2023, your supplier details live on the Central Digital Platform. GOV.UK says it is the supplier's responsibility to keep them accurate, so check them before each bid.

1.8 What changes for NHS suppliers on 1 April 2027?

NHS England's guidance asks for a CRP in two tiers. Contracts worth £5 million a year or more (including VAT), and all new frameworks, need a 2027 NHS CRP. Smaller contracts above the procurement thresholds keep the existing plan, with the same content as PPN 006.

NHS 2027 →

1.9 What does a 2027 NHS plan add?

It covers Scope 1, Scope 2 and every relevant Scope 3 category, considering all 15, with a global boundary: your whole organisation, wherever it operates. It also needs your environmental management measures, and board or director approval and publication on your website. The NHS also recommends, but doesn't require, targets validated by an independent third party, the share of your net zero target you expect to achieve through offsetting, and net zero by 2045 or earlier.

1.10 What is SECR, and does it apply to me?

Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) applies to quoted companies, and to unquoted companies over two or more of: turnover over £36 million, balance sheet over £18 million, more than 250 employees. You include your energy use and emissions in the directors' report filed with your accounts. A company that used 40,000 kWh or less in the UK can say so instead.

1.11 What is ESOS?

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) applies if, on 31 December 2026, you have 250 or more employees, or turnover over £44 million and a balance sheet over £38 million. For phase 4, the notification of compliance is due by 5 December 2027 and the action plan by 5 December 2028.

1.12 What is UK CBAM?

The UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) puts a carbon price on imports of aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, and iron and steel, from 1 January 2027. You must register if you expect to import £50,000 or more of CBAM goods in the next 30 days, or have imported that much in the previous 12 months. If you become liable in 2027, you register by 31 January 2028, then file each return.

1.13 What is EU CBAM?

The EU's CBAM applies if you, or your EU business, import CBAM goods into the EU, more than 50 tonnes a year. CBAM certificates go on sale from 1 February 2027, and the first CBAM declaration, for 2026, is due by 30 September 2027. Your EU customers may also ask you for the emissions in your goods.

1.14 What are packaging EPR and Plastic Packaging Tax?

Packaging extended producer responsibility (EPR) applies if you supplied or imported more than 25 tonnes of packaging last year and your turnover was £1 million or more. Large producers (more than 50 tonnes and more than £2 million) report every 6 months; small producers report once a year. Plastic Packaging Tax applies if you manufacture in, or import into, the UK 10 tonnes or more of finished plastic packaging components in 12 months; you submit a return each quarter and pay any tax due by the last working day of the following month.

1.15 What are the F-gas leak check rules?

In Great Britain, equipment holding 5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent or more of fluorinated gas needs regular leak checks: at least every 12 months from 5 tonnes, every 6 months from 50 tonnes, and every 3 months from 500 tonnes. A leak detection system doubles the interval. The calendar asks about this once your ledger has a refrigerant entry.

1.16 What is Simpler Recycling?

The rules ask workplaces in England to arrange separate collection of their recyclable waste. The rules came into force on 31 March 2025; micro-firms (fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees) have until 31 March 2027.

1.17 What is the EUDR?

The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) covers cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood products placed on the EU market or exported from it. It applies from 30 December 2026 for medium and large businesses, and from 30 June 2027 for micro and small ones. You'll need due diligence statements in place from your date.

1.18 What is a modern slavery statement?

If your total turnover is £36 million or more, you publish one each year. Statutory guidance says within 6 months of your financial year-end.

1.19 My customer asked for my emissions. Is that a rule?

Not one that applies to you directly, but customers covered by rules such as EU CBAM, the EU's sustainability reporting rules (CSRD), UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS) or California's SB 253 and SB 261 may ask suppliers for figures. You can share yours with a customer on Scopterra (3.9).

2Carbon basics

2.1 What are Scopes 1, 2 and 3?

The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol sorts emissions into three scopes. Scope 1 is what you burn or release yourself, such as fuel and refrigerant leaks. Scope 2 is the electricity, heat and steam you buy. Scope 3 is everything else in your value chain, from what you buy to how your staff travel.

2.2 What are the 15 Scope 3 categories?

1 Purchased goods and services; 2 Capital goods; 3 Fuel- and energy-related activities not included in Scope 1 or Scope 2; 4 Upstream transportation and distribution; 5 Waste generated in operations; 6 Business travel; 7 Employee commuting; 8 Upstream leased assets; 9 Downstream transportation and distribution; 10 Processing of sold products; 11 Use of sold products; 12 End-of-life treatment of sold products; 13 Downstream leased assets; 14 Franchises; 15 Investments.

2.3 Which Scope 3 categories must a plan cover?

A PPN 006 plan covers five: 4 upstream transportation and distribution, 5 waste generated in operations, 6 business travel, 7 employee commuting, and 9 downstream transportation and distribution. If one of them has no entries, the plan needs your explanation, and prints it as "Not reported". An NHS 2027 plan covers all relevant Scope 3 emissions, considering all 15: in Scopterra you record whether each category is relevant and why, and the plan prints a figure or your reason.

2.4 What is CO2e?

Carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) puts the seven greenhouse gases named by the Kyoto Protocol on one scale, by how much each warms the climate compared with carbon dioxide. Plans report in tonnes of CO2e (tCO2e).

2.5 Which conversion factors does Scopterra use?

The UK government's greenhouse gas conversion factors, published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), for 2024, 2025 and 2026, exactly as published. We publish the fingerprint of every file we loaded so you can check it. Carbon figures are produced for periods from 1 January 2024.

2.6 What does "location-based" Scope 2 mean?

Your electricity emissions are calculated with the average factor for the UK grid, whatever tariff you're on. That's how Scopterra reports Scope 2 electricity.

2.7 What is a baseline year?

The year you measure your progress against. A PPN 006 plan states its baseline year and the emissions in it; you set it in Scopterra.

2.8 What does net zero mean in a plan?

A PPN 006 plan confirms your commitment to reach net zero by 2050 at the latest, with your reduction targets. Scopterra won't let a plan say you're already net zero, or make an unqualified "carbon neutral" claim, because a footprint can't back that up.

2.9 Can I use offsets?

We don't check, arrange or sell offsets. For an NHS 2027 plan, the NHS recommends (but doesn't require) saying what share of your net zero target you expect to meet through offsetting. In Scopterra, the share is worked out from your own net zero target.

2.10 My electricity emissions fell. Is that my reduction?

Not always. The UK government updates its electricity factor every year, so the same usage can give a different figure. Scopterra splits a change in Scope 2 electricity into the part from your usage and the part from the factor, so a plan, report or tender answer never presents the factor's change as yours.

2.11 What is category 3?

The emissions from producing and delivering the fuel and electricity you use: well-to-tank, and transmission and distribution losses. Scopterra calculates it automatically from your energy and fuel entries.

2.12 What is an estimate from spend?

For purchased goods and services, Scopterra can estimate emissions from what you spent, using Defra's spend-based factors and the ONS Consumer Prices Index. It's less precise than a measured figure, so it's labelled as an estimate, never added to a measured figure, and shown as its own method in the carbon report; an NHS 2027 plan includes it in Scope 3 on its own labelled line.

3Using the platform

3.1 How do I get started?

Sign up free with your email address, then set up your organisation by finding it on Companies House. You don't need to be a director to set up or record evidence; a director is only needed to sign a plan. The Free plan covers one site and your last complete financial year.

How it works →

3.2 What data do I need?

For one reporting year: energy bills, fuel and vehicle records, refrigerant service records, delivery invoices, waste transfer notes, travel bookings and commuting records. For most companies the electricity bill, the fuel and the waste report are the biggest part. You don't need everything on day one.

What we'll need from you →

3.3 What documents and files do I send?

Bills. We need the amount used (kWh, litres, kg, m³ or km), not the amount paid. A monthly bill is a monthly entry, so send the twelve bills rather than adding the year up yourself. Upload PDFs, images (a clear photo or screenshot is fine), Excel (.xlsx) files or CSVs, up to 20 MB each.

3.4 How does Scopterra Read work, and is my data used to train models?

Upload an energy or fuel bill and Scopterra Read, our bill reader, proposes the supplier, billing period, usage and amount. You check every value before anything is saved, and on paid plans a second person checks the entry. It's off until an owner of your organisation accepts our Data processing terms. Bills are read in London only, by Google's Gemini model on Google Cloud. We don't use your data to train models, and Google doesn't use it to train its own. Free includes 5 bills read by Scopterra Read; paid plans up to 200 a month.

3.5 Can I import a whole year at once?

Yes. Import a year from our workbook or a CSV, up to 5,000 rows at once, then attach the bills. On paid plans you can check up to 50 entries at a time.

3.6 What is the second-person check, and why?

On paid plans, a second person in your organisation (an owner or admin) checks each entry against its document. Nobody can check an entry they entered, edited, submitted or attached a file to. It exists because your buyer may challenge a number: a figure two people have checked, with its bill attached, is one you can defend.

3.7 What's the difference between "checked" and "not checked"?

A checked entry has been confirmed by a second person against its document; a not-checked one hasn't yet. They're kept apart in your report and in anything you share. A checked figure can't be edited: a correction is a new version, checked again, and the old one stays in the history.

3.8 Can I record sites outside the UK?

Yes: each site has a country. Electricity, heat and EV charging at a site outside the UK don't have a factor in Scopterra yet, so they show as gaps with the reason. A PPN 006 plan covers your UK operations and says so; an NHS 2027 plan says plainly if its figures don't yet cover operations outside the UK.

3.9 Can I share my figures with a customer?

Yes. An owner or admin chooses, for each buyer, what it can see: totals of your figures (checked and not checked shown separately), your plan's status and signed copy, or documents you added. You can stop sharing at any time, and the buyer loses access straight away; anything it already downloaded stays with it.

3.10 Can I collect figures from my suppliers?

Yes. Invite suppliers to join Scopterra free and share their carbon evidence with you; each supplier chooses what you see and can stop at any time. Any organisation can link up to 25 suppliers at no charge; more needs the Enterprise programme. An owner first accepts our Data processing terms.

3.11 What if my supplier isn't on Scopterra but has published an EPD?

You can record an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) it has published, with the document, and a second person checks the record against it. Scopterra uses only modules A1 to A3 (cradle to gate) from EPDs to EN 15804+A2, and calculates the purchases from it.

3.12 What are data-quality tiers?

The carbon report shows where each figure comes from: your own activity data (kilowatt-hours, litres and so on) × UK government factors; an estimate from spend; or a supplier's EPD. That's separate from whether it's checked: an estimate from spend can be checked and still be an estimate.

3.13 What does the compliance calendar do?

It shows the dates that apply to you, from your answers and what Scopterra already holds (your year-end, Companies House, your signed plans, your documents and your ledger). Each date shows its source. It's on every plan, Free included. It emails 60, 30 and 7 days before each date, and the day after if it's overdue (a bid deadline gets only the 7-day and day-after emails). Owners and admins get them unless they switch them off; other members can switch them on.

3.14 What are tender answers?

Answers to the carbon and sustainability questions in your bids, drafted from what's already checked in Scopterra. Every answer is checked before it can be marked ready, and ready answers download together as a Word file. Tender answers are on every plan. An answer that quotes a figure needs that figure checked by a second person, which is on paid plans.

3.15 What is the reduction roadmap?

Your targets and the actions that will get you there, measured against your baseline year. Pick a later period to see how far emissions have moved against the target.

3.16 What can I download?

Your Carbon Reduction Plan as PDF and Word (a draft on Free; final files on paid plans), your carbon report as a CSV with one line per entry, and ready tender answers as a Word file.

3.17 What is the estimator on the home page?

A ten-second screening figure, not a footprint. Pick your sector and spend for a rough Scope 3 range from Defra's spend-based factors, and add your energy spend for a rough Scope 1 and 2 figure. It isn't part of your ledger or plan; your real figures come from your bills and supplier data.

Try it →

4Plans and outputs

4.1 What does a finished plan contain?

Your net zero commitment, baseline year and emissions, current emissions for one reporting year (Scope 1, Scope 2 and the required Scope 3 categories), your reduction targets, measures and projects, and the method: the standards it follows, your boundary, the factor years and the seven gases. It ends with board approval and a director's sign-off. Scopterra writes it from your own figures, in the government's format, and no figure is typed by hand.

PPN 006 plans →

4.2 How long does it take?

Done for you, a Carbon Reduction Plan or an NHS 2027 plan typically takes 10 working days, or 5 with Express (PPN 006 plans only). A CBAM Readiness Check takes five working days and an Audit two weeks. On your own, it depends on how quickly you gather your evidence.

4.3 How is the plan checked before it's final?

It's tested against PPN 006, or the 2027 NHS requirements, whichever it follows. A failed check stops it until it's fixed. The plan can say it meets those requirements only when nothing they ask for is missing.

4.4 What if some bills are missing?

A required Scope 3 category with no entries must carry your explanation, and the plan prints it. For an NHS 2027 plan, the guidance allows smaller suppliers, in exceptional circumstances, to explain missing data with a reason and set out how they'll improve it; the buyer decides whether the reason is acceptable.

4.5 What's the difference between a draft and a final plan?

On Free you get a draft: it carries a draft label, isn't signed and isn't for submission with a bid. On a paid plan, entries are checked by a second person, a director signs, and the files have no draft label.

4.6 Can I change a plan after it's signed?

A signed plan stays signed, with its files available. To change it, you build a new version, which is signed again; the earlier one is kept.

4.7 What if a buyer questions a figure?

Every figure in the plan is made of ledger entries, and each entry has its bill, invoice or report attached, with a fingerprint of the file and an audit trail. Checked entries can't be changed, so what you show the buyer is what was checked.

4.8 Will you help if a buyer queries my plan?

Done-for-you clients can email hello@scopterra.com and we'll help find the evidence behind a figure. On Self-serve, every figure links to its document and audit trail (4.7).

4.9 Do you guarantee a tender result?

No. A plan built in Scopterra includes what PPN 006 or the 2027 NHS requirements ask for once its checks pass, but whether you win a bid is the buyer's decision.

5Prices and billing

5.1 Is there a free plan?

Yes. Measure your carbon free. Pay only when you're ready to submit your plan. Free plan: one site, one reporting year. Checked figures and the final plan on paid plans.

Prices →

5.2 Do prices include VAT?

No. Every price we quote excludes VAT.

5.3 What are the founding-client terms?

Until 31 March 2027, the first ten companies with up to 25 staff can have a Carbon Reduction Plan for £1,450 instead of £1,750, or an NHS 2027 plan for £1,950 instead of £2,250. The ten places are shared between the two. In return we ask for a reference, a case study and anonymised figures, agreed in writing.

5.4 What if we grow past 25 staff?

Your price is set by your headcount when the plan starts or renews. If you grow during the year, nothing changes until renewal.

5.5 What happens after 12 months?

A paid plan runs for 12 months from the day we switch it on. We email owners at least 30 days before it ends, with the price to renew. If you don't renew, your organisation goes back to the Free plan: nothing is deleted, what you've recorded stays readable, and signed plans stay signed with their files available. Our Carbon Reduction Plan service includes the first 12 months of the platform; after that, it's the Self-serve price for your size.

5.6 Who checks the figures?

A second person in your organisation: nobody can check their own entry, and a checked figure can't be edited, only corrected. Working on your own? We can be your second person, from £395 a year. The Free plan doesn't include the check. Our check is an internal check. It is not third-party assurance.

5.7 Do I pay online?

No. We don't take card payments. We confirm your price in writing before we start, then switch your plan on.

5.8 Is it priced per user?

No. Prices depend on the number of people who work for your company, not on how many use the platform. Every plan has unlimited users.

6Data, privacy and security

6.1 Where is my data held?

Our primary database and file storage are in London (Supabase, on Amazon Web Services), and our server functions run in London. A request first reaches our host's nearest network location, which may be outside the UK, and account emails are sent from the United States.

Trust →

6.2 Who processes data for you?

Supabase (database, file storage and sign-in), Vercel (hosting and server functions), Google Cloud (Scopterra Read, our bill reader, in London only), Google Workspace (business email), Resend (sending emails) and Sentry (error reports, stored in the EU). The Data processing terms list where each one processes data and under which safeguard, and we give 30 days' notice of any change.

6.3 What does Scopterra Read run on?

Google's Gemini model on Google Cloud, in London only, to read the bills you upload, and only once an owner has accepted our Data processing terms. If it stops being available in London, we switch bill reading off rather than send bills anywhere else. We have completed a Data Protection Impact Assessment for bill reading, available on request.

6.4 Who can see my data?

The members of your organisation and authorised Scopterra staff. Each organisation's data is kept separate from every other's in the database, and uploaded files are private, served only through a short-lived link to a signed-in member. A buyer sees only what you choose to share (3.9).

6.5 How do you keep it secure?

All data is encrypted in transit, access is limited to people who need it, and row-level security in our database keeps each organisation's data separate. We record each file's SHA-256 fingerprint and log every bill Scopterra Read reads. If a personal data breach affects your data, we tell you without undue delay, and within 48 hours of becoming aware of it.

6.6 How long do you keep my data?

While your organisation's account is open, and for 7 years from the date it closes, because buyers and auditors may ask for the evidence behind a published plan. A Free organisation that was never paid for and never signed a plan is deleted after 12 months unused, once we've emailed its owners and nobody signs in within 30 days.

6.7 Can I delete my data or close my account?

Yes: email hello@scopterra.com. We record the closure date, and on request we delete your uploaded files, invitations and members' sign-in accounts, and send you a record of what was deleted and what was kept. We keep the confirmed figures, file fingerprints, audit trail and signed plans, so a published plan can still be proved.

6.8 Can I delete just my own account?

Not yet, while your organisation carries on using Scopterra. Email hello@scopterra.com and we'll tell you what we can do. What you recorded in an organisation's ledger belongs to that organisation.

6.9 Can I take my data with me?

Yes. You can download your plans as PDF and Word and your carbon report as CSV, and you have the right to receive your personal data in a portable format. If a paid plan ends, nothing is deleted and what you've recorded stays readable.

6.10 Who owns my data?

You do. You give us permission to store and process it only so we can provide the service, and we act as your processor under our Data processing terms. Your organisation can sign its own data processing agreement with us instead.

6.11 What are my rights over my personal data?

You can ask to see it, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, and receive it in a portable format. Email hello@scopterra.com and we reply within one month. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

6.12 Do you use cookies?

Only essential ones: sign-in session cookies, and one that remembers which organisation you're working in. No advertising or analytics cookies.

6.13 Do you hold a security certification?

No, we don't hold a security certification today. Trust sets out where your data is, who can see it and how it's protected.

7Accounts and teams

7.1 How many users can we have?

As many as you like. Every plan includes unlimited users; prices depend on the size of your company, not on how many people use Scopterra.

7.2 What roles are there?

Owner, Admin, Member and Consultant. Owners manage everyone; admins manage admins, members and consultants. Owners and admins check entries, share with buyers, accept supplier invitations, record EPDs and change your organisation's settings. Consultants can read the reduction roadmap but not change it.

7.3 How do I invite someone?

An owner or admin invites them by email from Settings → Members and picks their role. Only an owner can invite another owner. You're responsible for the people you invite and what they do in your organisation.

7.4 Can I work in more than one organisation?

Yes. One sign-in can belong to several organisations, and you switch between them in the workspace; a cookie remembers which one you're working in.

7.5 Does the person who signs our plan need an account?

A director signs the plan. They can hold an account only to sign plans for your organisation, and we keep their name and job title, and the email address of the account they signed with, with each signed plan.

7.6 How do you check who our organisation is?

We use what you give us and public records such as Companies House, and can ask a current director to confirm the company. That check doesn't guarantee a company's status, standing or identity.

7.7 What happens to my entries if I leave?

They stay with the organisation: what you recorded in its ledger belongs to it. When we delete your account, we remove your name and email address from its records, except from plans you signed.

7.8 I'm an accountant or consultant helping a client. How do I join?

Ask your client to invite you as a Consultant. One sign-in can work across all your clients' organisations. A Consultant can see everything in the organisation, add and submit their own entries, use bill reading and draft tender answers. A Consultant can't check entries, build a plan, change targets or the roadmap, invite people or share with buyers.

7.9 How do I leave an organisation?

Ask an owner or admin of the organisation to remove you from Settings → Members.

8Limits and honesty

8.1 What doesn't Scopterra do?

We don't validate targets, and we don't check, arrange or sell offsets. Our second-person check is an internal check, not third-party assurance, and nothing we publish is legal advice. We don't take card payments in the platform.

8.2 Is Scopterra endorsed by the government or the NHS?

No. Scopterra is independent and isn't endorsed by any government department or by the NHS.

8.3 Does Scopterra verify or certify my figures?

No. We check: a second person in your organisation checks each entry against its document. That's an internal check, not third-party assurance, and Scopterra doesn't certify figures or plans. A plan won't state assurance that wasn't carried out, and PPN 006 doesn't require your footprint to be audited (1.6).

8.4 Does Scopterra check my suppliers' figures?

No. A supplier's figures are its own. When you record a supplier's EPD, a second person in your organisation checks your record against the document, and the record shows any verification the EPD itself names, in the EPD's own words.

8.5 Is anything on this site legal advice?

No. The rules and dates are a guide, quoted from their official sources. Check the source for your situation.