Writing the sustainability section of a public sector tender

Sustainability tender questions ask how your business manages its environmental impact and what you will do differently on this contract. The answers that score well are specific: a measured carbon footprint, named actions with dates, numbers you will report, and a clear link to the work being bought. Generic policy wording scores poorly, however well written.

If you have stared at a 750-word box titled “Environmental sustainability” and wondered what the evaluator actually wants, this guide is for you.

What sustainability questions show up in tenders?

They tend to fall into a few families:

• Pass or fail checks. Do you have an environmental policy? Do you hold ISO 14001 or equivalent? For central government contracts over £5 million a year, do you have a Carbon Reduction Plan?
• Organisation-level questions. How do you measure your emissions? What is your net zero target? How do you manage waste?
• Contract-specific questions. What additional environmental benefits will you deliver while performing this contract, and how will you measure them?

The last group carries the most marks. Under the government’s PPN 002 Social Value Model, one of the outcomes buyers can choose is “Sustainable procurement practices”, and the standard reporting metrics include annual carbon reduction in tonnes, water saved in litres and waste diverted from landfill in tonnes. Social value must carry at least 10% of the total score in central government tenders.

How evaluators score your answer

Evaluators work through the award criteria line by line and mark what they can find evidence for. In the Social Value Model, the minimum to score at all is “a specific, measurable and time-bound commitment”. Beyond that, they look for:

• how the commitment meets each criterion
• a timed plan setting out what you will do and by when
• the metrics you will use to report progress
• who is responsible and how issues get escalated

Copy the criteria into your draft as headings, answer each one, then remove the headings if the format requires. It is the simplest way to avoid missing marks.

A structure that works for small suppliers

For most environmental questions, this five-part structure fits neatly:

1. Where you are now. Your measured footprint, with method. “Our 2025 carbon footprint was 14.2 tCO2e across Scope 1, 2 and core Scope 3, calculated using the GHG Protocol and UK Government conversion factors.”
2. What you have already done. Two or three actions with results. Evaluators trust a track record.
3. What you will do on this contract. Specific, dated, owned by a named role.
4. How you will measure and report it. Which metric, how often, to whom.
5. How you will involve others. Staff, subcontractors, the client’s team.

Keep paragraphs short and use the buyer’s own language. If the specification talks about “fleet emissions”, so do you.

Example answer: a small facilities supplier

This is example wording for a fictional 12-person grounds maintenance company. Adapt it, do not copy it.

We measured our first full carbon footprint for the year to March 2026: 41.6 tCO2e, of which 78% came from our five diesel vans and petrol equipment. Since then we have replaced our handheld petrol tools with battery equivalents and introduced route planning that cut van mileage by around 9% in the first quarter.

For this contract we will deliver all hand-tool work with battery equipment from day one, and replace one diesel van on this route with an electric van by month six, charged at our depot on a renewable tariff. We estimate this will reduce contract-related emissions by 4.5 tCO2e a year. Our Operations Manager owns this commitment and will report fuel use, mileage and tCO2e to your contract manager quarterly, using the Social Value Model metric for annual carbon reduction.

All green waste from the contract will go to a local composting site rather than general waste, and we will report tonnages each quarter.

Notice what it does. It gives a baseline, shows past action, commits to dated changes, quantifies the benefit and names an owner and a reporting rhythm. None of that requires a big company.

What if you have never measured anything?

Plenty of small suppliers reach their first tender with no footprint, no policy and a deadline in ten days. That is still workable. Measure your footprint first, because almost every other answer depends on it, then write a short environmental policy and two or three dated actions. Be upfront in your answer: “This is our first measured footprint, completed in 2026, and it is now our baseline.” Evaluators respond well to honesty about where you are starting from, as long as the plan from here is concrete.

Where your evidence comes from

The strongest answers lean on a few documents you can attach or quote:

• A carbon footprint with a clear method. Your Scope 1 and Scope 2 figures, plus the Scope 3 categories you have measured.
• An environmental policy, signed and dated. Our environmental policy template guide covers what it should say.
• A net zero commitment and targets. See our net zero commitment statement example.
• An action plan that shows what comes next.

An ESG Now report covers three of the four. It calculates your footprint from your energy, vehicles, waste, water, courier deliveries and business travel, with estimates of commuting, homeworking and, optionally, purchased goods, records your commitments, and gives you a private, prioritised action plan that shows which policies you already have in place and which are worth adding next. Be aware that it does not include inbound freight paid for by suppliers or delivery paid for by your customers, so if a tender asks about those specifically, add them separately.

Mistakes that cost marks

• Pasting your policy. Evaluators want to know what happens on their contract.
• Unmeasured claims. “We are committed to reducing our impact” scores nothing without a number or a date.
• Promising what you cannot deliver. Commitments end up in the contract as KPIs.
• Offsetting as the headline. Lead with reductions. Mention offsets, if at all, as a final step for residual emissions.
• Ignoring the word limit. Too short leaves marks behind. Too long may not be read.

If you are starting from nothing, start your free report this week. Most office-based firms finish in 20 to 30 minutes, and you will have a baseline and a plan ready for the next tender. Our public sector tenders hub has more on getting bid-ready.