Carbon footprint in Spanish public tenders: what is required and how to prove it

A carbon footprint is not mandatory in every Spanish public tender. It appears when the contracting authority decides to include it, and it can do so in four different ways: as a technical specification, as a technical solvency requirement, as an award criterion, or as a special performance condition. It is evidenced through registration in Spain's MITECO carbon footprint registry or through equivalent means such as an ISO 14064-1 certificate, and it must always be linked to the subject matter of the contract.

Do you need a carbon footprint to bid for public contracts in Spain?

No. What is mandatory is that the public buyer includes environmental criteria. Article 1.3 of Law 9/2017 on Public Sector Contracts states that “in all public procurement, social and environmental criteria shall be incorporated in a cross cutting and mandatory manner provided they relate to the subject matter of the contract”. Article 202 requires the administrative clauses document to include at least one special performance condition, which may be environmental, social, ethical or innovation related.

That duty falls on the contracting authority, not on the bidder. In practice, the carbon footprint will show up in some tender documents and not in others, and where it does the weight and the legal form vary. For a company that bids often, the consequence is simple: without the figure calculated, you are quietly excluded from part of the market.

There is one case where the mandate is stronger. Article 31.1 of Law 7/2021 on climate change and energy transition requires the General State Administration and the whole state public sector to incorporate, in line with article 126.4 of Law 9/2017, “emission reduction and carbon footprint criteria specifically aimed at fighting climate change as particular technical specifications in tender documents”. Article 31.2 goes further for project design, works and works concession tenders, listing award criteria that include measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the construction process.

Where can a carbon footprint requirement appear in tender documents?

Each legal form has different consequences: some exclude you outright, others only cost you points.

Article 145.2 is explicit: environmental characteristics used as a qualitative criterion “may relate, among others, to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission levels”. Article 202.2 says the same for performance conditions. Article 148.2.b) allows life cycle cost to include “the cost of greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutant emissions”, provided the monetary value can be determined and verified.

What Royal Decree 214/2025 says about tenders

Article 10 of Royal Decree 214/2025 of 18 March, published in the Official State Gazette number 89 of 12 April 2025 and in force since 12 June 2025, is the reference. It states that, for the purposes of Law 9/2017 and Royal Decree Law 3/2020, “the contracting authority may include, among the environmental considerations established in the procurement procedure, those relating to the carbon footprint, which may be evidenced, provided the legally required conditions are met, through registration in the carbon footprint registry created by this royal decree or through equivalent certificates or other legally provided means of proof”.

Three words matter. “May”, which confirms nothing is automatic. “Equivalent”, which stops a tender from shutting out companies that are not registered. And “legally required conditions”, which points back to the link with the subject matter of the contract.

Do not confuse that article with the obligations in article 11 of the same decree, which requires companies subject to non financial reporting under article 49.5 of the Commercial Code to calculate their footprint annually and to publish a reduction plan. Registration itself remains voluntary for private companies under article 12.1. For state ministerial departments, their autonomous bodies and other state administrative public sector entities, registration is annual and mandatory. Our analysis of the registry obligations under RD 214/2025 covers this in detail.

Link to the subject matter: why carbon footprint criteria fall

This is the nuance that decides tenders, and it is not an administrative quirk: it is article 145 of Law 9/2017, which requires every award criterion to be linked to the subject matter of the contract. Applied to the carbon footprint, that translates into two rules:

• Not acceptable: requiring registry inscription as a general company requirement, a sort of generic technical solvency detached from the contract.
• Acceptable: scoring it as an award criterion where there is a clear link to the subject matter and it measures an environmental improvement in the contracted service.

The practical lesson: what scores is not having any footprint, it is having a footprint whose boundary covers the activity being tendered. If your registration only covers head office and the contract is about transport, the criterion can fall.

How to evidence your carbon footprint to a contracting authority

Two equivalence rules are worth memorising. First, article 94.2 of Law 9/2017 obliges contracting authorities to recognise equivalent certificates issued in any member state and to accept other proof of equivalent environmental management measures. Second, article 10 of RD 214/2025 itself: where the tender asks for registry inscription and the bidder is not registered, evidence by an analogous means, such as an ISO 14064-1 organisational footprint certificate, is a valid means of proof.

If the tender demands a specific label, article 127.3 requires the authority to accept all labels verifying equivalent requirements and other appropriate means of proof. For what each document actually certifies, see our guide to carbon footprint certification in Spain.

State green public procurement and the regional layer

The reference framework for state green procurement is the Green Public Procurement Plan of the General State Administration, its autonomous bodies and the Social Security managing entities, approved by Council of Ministers agreement of 7 December 2018 and published through Order PCI/86/2019 of 31 January, with a 2018-2025 horizon. It is where the priority groups of goods, works and services come from, and where the mandate in article 31 of Law 7/2021 to include emission reduction and carbon footprint criteria as particular technical specifications starts to bite.

Regional rules matter too. Several autonomous communities have their own green procurement instructions, and some run carbon footprint registries interoperable with the national one, as article 5 of RD 214/2025 anticipates. Our review of environmental legislation at regional level in Spain is a good starting point.

Checklist before your next tender

1. Calculate your organisational carbon footprint covering at least scopes 1 and 2, using the emission factors published by the registry.
2. Check that the calculation boundary covers the activity you normally bid for, not just head office. This is the most common reason a criterion does not count.
3. Write the reduction plan with a quantified target and base year. Article 11.3 of RD 214/2025 requires a horizon of at least five years.
4. Decide whether to register with MITECO. It is voluntary for private companies and it gives you the seal and the acknowledgement document that tenders usually ask for. Bear in mind that since January 2026 only emissions attributable to Spanish territory can be registered.
5. Check whether verification applies to you. The registry requires accredited external verification when the organisation is not an SME, medium sized group, association, foundation, cooperative or public entity, or where there is scope 3, process emissions or significant sources with no factor published by the registry.
6. Prepare the equivalent. If you will not register, have an ISO 14064-1 certificate or documentary proof of equivalent measures ready, and keep the issue date.
7. Add product or service footprints if you compete in supplies. Technical specifications usually concern the product, not the company.
8. Build a carbon footprint repository with the calculation memo, the factors used, the verification statement if any and the reduction plan, ready to attach to every bid.
9. Read every tender on the Public Sector Procurement Platform and classify where the footprint appears, because that determines whether it excludes you or only costs points.
10. If a criterion looks disconnected from the subject matter of the contract, remember it can be challenged before the competent contractual appeals tribunal.

Common mistakes when submitting a carbon footprint in a tender

• Mixing up organisational and product footprints. Technical specifications normally belong to the product or service; the organisational footprint fits better as a linked award criterion.
• Submitting an expired seal or the wrong year. The MITECO seal refers to a specific calculation period and each year is a separate registration.
• Submitting a footprint whose boundary excludes the tendered activity. This is the single most common reason a criterion falls, for lack of a link to the subject matter.
• Giving up on the points because you are not registered. Equivalent measures must be accepted even where the tender does not mention them.
• Skipping the special performance condition. Where it is framed as an essential contractual obligation, breach can lead to termination.
• Calculating only once. Without a time series there is no downward trend, and without a trend the reduction part of the seal is not activated.

Frequently asked questions

Is a carbon footprint mandatory to contract with the Spanish public sector?

Not as a general rule. What is mandatory is that the contracting authority incorporates environmental criteria in a cross cutting way where they relate to the subject matter, and sets at least one special performance condition. Whether that consideration is specifically the carbon footprint depends on each tender.

Does the MITECO seal earn points in a tender?

It can, where the tender sets it as an award criterion and the registered boundary covers the contracted activity. Article 10 of RD 214/2025 expressly contemplates it as a means of evidence, alongside equivalent certificates.

What if I am not registered in the carbon footprint registry?

The contracting authority must accept equivalent means of proof, such as an ISO 14064-1 organisational carbon footprint certificate, under article 94.2 of Law 9/2017 and article 10 of RD 214/2025, which expressly refers to equivalent certificates or other legally provided means of proof.

Is the carbon footprint a selection criterion or an award criterion?

It can be either, but not in the same way. As technical solvency, what you evidence are environmental management measures under articles 90.1.f and 94, typically EMAS or equivalent standards. As an award criterion, the footprint itself is scored, and it is only valid when linked to the subject matter of the contract.

Do I need my carbon footprint verified in order to bid?

It depends on the tender and on your profile. Accredited external verification is mandatory to register with MITECO when the organisation is not an SME, medium sized group, association, foundation, cooperative or public entity, when scope 3 is registered, or when there are process emissions or significant sources with no factor published by the registry. A tender may also require a verified footprint directly.

Can a badly drafted carbon footprint criterion be challenged?

Yes. A criterion demanding an organisational footprint as an abstract requirement, with no link to the subject matter, conflicts with article 145 of Law 9/2017. The special appeal in procurement matters is the route to challenge it.

To reach your next tender with the figure calculated, the reduction plan written and the paperwork in order, start with the carbon footprint calculator, review how the process works in our MITECO registry guide and look at Manglai's MITECO certification solution. If the tender asks for a product footprint, the starting point is understanding what a product carbon footprint is and how it is measured.