Capline ESG questionnaires, answered once. For smaller businesses serving large customers.
For UK suppliers, roughly 30–250 staff

Which of these actually apply to you?

Sustainability questions now reach smaller UK businesses from three directions — public tenders, large customers and EU value chains — and each runs on a different rulebook. Some carry a legal obligation. Some are contractual. Some you can push back on. Telling them apart is most of the work.

Here is a typical questionnaire. Four of those eight lines are obligations, two are negotiable, and two you can usually decline — but which is which depends entirely on who is asking.

Supplier sustainability questionnaire Ref. VCQ-0412
  • 01Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissionsPPN 006 — condition of participation on public contractsMust answer
  • 02A published net zero commitmentPPN 006 · NHS Evergreen Level 1Must answer
  • 03Total energy consumption for the year (MWh)Common to nearly every frameworkMust answer
  • 04Social value commitments and deliveryPPN 002 — minimum 10% of the tender scoreMust answer
  • 05Waste by stream, recycling and disposal tonnagesInside the EU standard; often contractualDepends
  • 06Full Scope 3 across all fifteen GHG Protocol categoriesOutside the EU cap — but required for NHS suppliers from 2027Depends
  • 07Completed double materiality assessmentBeyond the value chain capDecline
  • 08Third-party assurance of all figures submittedBeyond the cap; rarely proportionate at this sizeDecline

Four are obligations. Two are negotiable. Two you can usually decline. Illustrative example — your own position depends on who is asking and what you supply.

Free one-page guide

We have mapped every line of a typical supplier questionnaire against all twelve frameworks — so you can see at a glance which sections apply to you, and which you can leave. One page, no jargon, nothing to buy.

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Where the requests come from

Three directions, three kinds of pressure.

Most suppliers only recognise one of these until the others arrive. They behave very differently — and the one people underestimate is the first.

Public sector tenders

The hardest edge. A Carbon Reduction Plan is a condition of participation, not a scored nicety — miss it and the bid is out before anyone reads your pricing. NHS Supply Chain went further: since 6 April 2026, suppliers must reach Evergreen Level 1 at tender close.

PPN 006PPN 002 NHS EvergreenMSAT

From April 2027 the NHS extends carbon reporting to all relevant global Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Large private customers

Cascaded down supply chains by main contractors, manufacturers and retailers, usually through a rating platform. Contractual rather than statutory — but a buyer setting a minimum score means losing the account, not just one tender.

EcoVadisCDP Supply Chain SECR cascadeBespoke forms

CDP reports almost 45,000 suppliers were asked to disclose by 270 corporate buyers in 2025.

EU value chains

Where the protection sits. Companies reporting under CSRD are restricted from demanding more from smaller suppliers than the Voluntary Standard allows. Separately, EU deforestation rules reach UK exporters of timber, paper, packaging and rubber.

Voluntary StandardCSRD cap EUDR

The one place in this list where a supplier can say no with a rule behind them.

What we cover

Twelve frameworks. One set of your data.

They overlap far more than they differ. Energy, fuel, waste, fleet and headcount data feed nearly all of them — what changes is the wrapper, the threshold and the deadline. That is why the answer is a single capture, not twelve forms.

PPN 006 — Carbon Reduction Plan
Any business bidding for UK public contracts
Mandatory
NHS Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment
NHS Supply Chain and medicines suppliers
Mandatory
NHS Net Zero Supplier Roadmap
NHS suppliers — milestones in 2027, 2028 and 2030
Mandatory
PPN 002 — Social Value
Central government bidders; minimum 10% of the score
Mandatory
Modern Slavery Assessment Tool
Public sector and higher Evergreen levels
Mandatory
EcoVadis
Suppliers to automotive, pharma, chemicals, FMCG
Contractual
CDP Supply Chain
Suppliers to large disclosing buyers
Contractual
EU Deforestation Regulation
Timber, paper, packaging, rubber reaching the EU
Mandatory
SECR — Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting
Thresholds unchanged by the April 2025 uplift
If in scope
ESOS — Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme
Qualification date 31 December 2026
If in scope
UK SRS S1 and S2
Published February 2026; listed companies first
Voluntary for now
EU Voluntary Standard (formerly VSME)
The ceiling on what CSRD reporters can ask you
Voluntary — and a shield
See what each one actually asks for →
Free guide

Ten pages. No jargon. Nothing to buy.

Start with the framework that lets you say no. The Value Chain Cap Checker covers the EU ceiling — written for the person who actually has to fill the form in, usually someone in finance or operations who did not ask for the job.

01

What changed, and when

Omnibus I, the delegated act that sets the cap, and the dates that matter to you.

02

Whether you are protected

The two-part test that decides if the cap applies to a request you have been sent.

03

What you can decline

Six requests that commonly go beyond the standard — and what stays fair game.

04

Where it does not protect you

The honest limits. Assuming protection you do not have is worse than having none.

Be honest with yourself

Worth your time, or not

Talk to us if

  • You employ roughly 30 to 250 people in the UK
  • You bid for public sector, NHS or local authority work
  • You supply larger corporates, retailers or main contractors
  • Questionnaires keep landing on someone in finance or operations
  • You have the data somewhere, never in the format they want

Don't if

  • You already report under CSRD in your own right
  • You have a sustainability team and a reporting process
  • You want legal advice on a specific contract — see a solicitor
  • You want assurance or audit — we are not an assurance provider
  • You are shopping for a carbon accounting platform
Who made this

Capline is on a mission to simplify the process for smaller businesses.

Capline is run by an experienced finance professional whose career has covered financial and sustainability reporting and data analysis across small firms and large multinationals.

That range is the whole point. These questionnaires are written at the large end, by people with reporting teams and systems behind them. They land at the small end, where the same information sits across six systems and two filing cabinets, and the person who has to find it already has a full-time job.

So every claim we make is traced to the policy note, the notice or the standard itself, and cited so you can check it rather than take our word for it. That is also how we work: every figure carries a source document, a named owner and the date it was verified.

Where our requirements come from

  • Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Notes — PPN 006 and PPN 002
  • NHS England — Greener NHS, Central Commercial Function, Net Zero Supplier Roadmap
  • NHS Supply Chain — Evergreen supplier requirements
  • Directive (EU) 2026/470 (Omnibus I) and the related delegated act
  • EFRAG VSME Digital Template 1.3.0
  • Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 (EUDR) and subsequent amendments
  • Department for Business and Trade — UK SRS S1 and S2
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Find out what you are actually obliged to answer from your customers and investors who report under CSRD.

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