About CarbonVerified

Who built this

CarbonVerified was created by Paul Jacobs, a UK software developer and SME operator based on the Isle of Wight. Paul has over fifteen years of experience building operational software for small businesses - tools designed to solve real, daily problems rather than impress in a boardroom demo.

A recurring theme in that work was government procurement. Many of his clients were small businesses bidding for public contracts, and over time the compliance requirements attached to those bids grew more demanding. When the Crown Commercial Service introduced PPN 06/21, it added a new condition: any supplier tendering for a contract above £5 million must produce and publish a Carbon Reduction Plan.

Paul encountered this first-hand while supporting SME clients through procurement bids. The tools available at the time fell into two categories - enterprise carbon accounting platforms priced for large organisations with dedicated sustainability teams, or DIY spreadsheet templates with no audit trail and no structured output. Neither was fit for purpose for a small business trying to demonstrate compliance quickly and credibly.

That gap prompted him to build CarbonVerified. The goal was straightforward: apply the same methodology used by large organisations - DESNZ emission factors, GHG Protocol scoping - and make it accessible to any SME, at a price that reflects the size of the business rather than the size of the problem.

How it works under the hood

Every emission calculation on CarbonVerified uses the DESNZ 2025 conversion factors - the UK Government's official greenhouse gas reporting figures, published annually by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. These are the same factors used by FTSE 100 companies in their statutory sustainability disclosures. Using them ensures that the numbers in your Carbon Reduction Plan can be traced back to a primary government source, which is exactly what a procurement auditor needs to see.

The platform structures emissions across three scopes following the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard - the global benchmark that PPN 06/21 explicitly adopts. Scope 1 covers direct combustion from gas, oil, and fleet vehicles. Scope 2 covers purchased electricity, calculated on both a location and market basis where relevant. Scope 3 covers downstream activity including business travel by public transport, waste sent to landfill, and water consumption - the categories most likely to be material for a typical SME.

Once you have entered your data, the platform generates a dated, structured Carbon Reduction Plan PDF that follows the Crown Commercial Service template requirements for PPN 06/21 compliance. The document includes your baseline year emissions, a commitment to net zero, and a set of reduction targets - the three components the policy requires to be present and publicly accessible.

Methodology & limitations

All emission factors used on this platform are sourced directly from the DESNZ conversion factors for company reporting, published annually by the UK Government. These factors are updated each year to reflect the changing carbon intensity of the national electricity grid and other sources. CarbonVerified is updated to the current year's factors within 30 days of their publication.

Important: CarbonVerified generates structured documentation to assist with PPN 06/21 compliance. The accuracy of your Carbon Reduction Plan depends entirely on the accuracy of the data you provide. You remain responsible for ensuring that your input figures reflect your actual operations. This platform does not constitute legal, financial, or procurement advice.

Get in touch

Questions about methodology, data handling, or your report? Email us directly: hello@carbonverified.uk