Climate Contract Playbook Edition 3
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3.
Annex 1 (Environmental requirements) of The Government Legal Department’s Model Services Agreement Combined Schedules includes a table of SUPs that are Prohibited Items in Catering, Facilities and Office Supplies 22 . Public opinion is generally supportive of banning SUPs. Businesses across the UK are responding by joining Wrap’s UK Plastics Pact - a collaborative initiative that creates a circular economy for plastics 23 .
4.
This clause gives businesses wishing to reduce their reliance on SUPs a tool to require their suppliers to use less SUPs in the provision of facilities services and thus lower the scope of the carbon emissions at the same time.
1. 2.
Service providers will be financially incentivised to reduce the use of SUP. Reducing demand for SUP will reduce the corresponding CO2 emissions created during their manufacture (although it is acknowledged that this will be qualified by paper or other alternatives used). If this became a standard requirement for public sector contracts this would create a new market norm.
Impact
3.
1. Central Government procurement. 2. Crown Commercial Services. 3. Local Government procurement teams. 4. FM Service Providers. 5. Private sector procurement teams including in law firms.
Stakeholders
Whilst the specific example of SUP has been used in the precedent clauses, the solution and concept can be applied to all manner of CO2 emitting products. For example, a target ratio for the number of EVs to Diesel vehicles used in delivering services to or for a customer. The definition of Plastic below refers to the REACH Regulation 2006 24 and is taken from the draft Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 25 . Users should check the final version of these regulations to ensure that the definition remains consistent. The definition of Single Use Plastic is more detailed than that of the draft Environmental Protection (Plastic Straws, Cotton Buds and Stirrers) (England) Regulations 2020 (‘made wholly or partly from plastic and that is not designed or intended to be reused’). Clauses 1.5 and 1.6 provide for deductions to be made where the Service Provider fails to meet the SUPs reduction targets. Although a service credits mechanism would be more normal in outsourcing situations (and could be considered as an alternative by drafters) a deduction is suggested as more appropriate for a failure to meet SUPs reduction targets as the failure is seen as fundamental to climate-conscious buyers.
Application
Notes for users
Future drafting could include a performance bonus rather than a deduction to positively incentivise performance.
Volume may not be the correct metric to measure and will need to be considered in detail when drafting. For example, there could numerous items such as straws which are difficult to recycle but would not contribute much to a volume or weight measurement.
22 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/model-services-contract 23 https://www.wrap.org.uk/content/the-uk-plastics-pact 24 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02006R1907-20140410 25 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/841896/straws-stirrers-cotton-buds- regulations-191021.pdf
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