What to send when a customer asks for your carbon footprint

Customer requests. Published 12 October 2026.

A customer asking for “your carbon footprint” might want one figure, a questionnaire or a full Carbon Reduction Plan. Find out which before sending a large bundle of files or starting work they do not need.

The short answer

Confirm the organisation or product, reporting period, emissions coverage, units and required format. Prepare the matching information, explain its limits and share only the relevant reviewed output. Carbon Verify supports organisational self-assessment; it does not independently verify your footprint or guarantee that a buyer will accept it.

Ask what the customer actually needs

Keep the original request or questionnaire. If the instructions are unclear, ask:

Which organisation or product? Your legal company, a group, a site, or the goods or services they buy?
Which dates? A completed financial year, calendar year or another specified period?
Which emissions? Scope 1 and 2, particular Scope 3 categories or a wider inventory? Do they specify a calculation or electricity-reporting basis?
Which units and format? A total, a breakdown, a Carbon Reduction Plan, or answers in their own portal?
What review is required? Internal approval, a self-declaration or independent assurance?

An organisational footprint describes emissions from the business within its stated boundary. A product footprint follows the emissions associated with a particular product, often across its life cycle. Dividing your business total by the number of products sold is not automatically a valid product footprint.

Not every customer request is a PPN 006 procurement requirement. If they do ask for that plan, compare their instructions with the PPN 006 guide. Do not assume that a private buyer, prime contractor or other reporting scheme uses identical rules.

Make the scope of your response visible

In stage 1 of Carbon Verify, choose A customer or prime contractor asks for one when that is your purpose. This changes the review and declaration wording, not the scope of the calculation.

Standard CRP includes supported Scope 1 and 2 sources and the five PPN 006 Scope 3 categories: upstream transport, operational waste, business travel, employee commuting and downstream transport. Extended footprint adds selected sources; it does not automatically provide a complete Scope 3 inventory.

Compare the customer's requested categories with your actual coverage. Resolve relevant gaps or explain them clearly. An unanswered question or missing record does not mean zero emissions. Use the data checklist to identify records. If professional help is needed, use the guide to preparing information for a consultant.

Check the unit before copying figures. One tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, written tCO₂e, is 1,000 kilograms, written kgCO₂e. Record the period and coverage alongside the number so the customer can interpret it.

A Carbon Reduction Plan or footprint summary does not automatically meet separate statutory reporting or import-reporting requirements. Check the specific request and reporting regime before choosing what to send.

Choose the smallest useful set of documents

Use stage 7, Check & download and the document guide to choose:

Carbon Reduction Plan: when the customer needs the footprint, commitment, targets and measures in a plan.
Optional Carbon Footprint Statement: when a separately internally signed-off organisational summary is suitable.
Evidence Pack: when supporting calculation details are requested and sharing them is appropriate.

For an early discussion, send a clearly labelled draft and its outstanding questions. Do not present it as an approved final report. Record genuine management approval and complete the applicable final checks before issuing a final plan; the optional Statement has its own sign-off.

The Evidence Pack and editable .carbonverify project can contain commercial details and internal notes. They are not automatically public attachments. Carbon Verify keeps activity data locally, but files you choose to share leave your control. Agree the recipient and secure transfer method, and send only relevant material. Keep original evidence separately.

Describe what the figures show, not more

A short covering note should identify the organisation, period, included sources, document status and any important limitations. Describe the result as self-assessed if that is what it is. Internal approval is not independent verification.

Do not turn an organisational calculation into a product carbon label, an independently verified claim or a statement that the business is carbon neutral. Any claim needs evidence appropriate to its wording and scope. Carbon credits are not a substitute for reducing or reporting gross emissions.

Public marketing: the CMA's Green Claims Code explains consumer-law principles for clear, accurate environmental claims backed by evidence. It is not a checklist for every business customer's questionnaire.

Save a dated copy of what you sent and the corresponding project file. If the customer requests changes, update the app and regenerate; editing a Word report does not update its underlying figures.

Related guides

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