Public sector builds new advisory frameworks for net zero and nature
New sustainability framework will give a major public estate long-term access to expert advice on net zero, nature recovery and social impact across its assets.
New sustainability framework will give a major public estate long-term access to expert advice on net zero, nature recovery and social impact across its assets.
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On 8th December 2025, The Crown Estate published a contract notice for a new Sustainability Advisory Framework. The multi-supplier agreement will assemble strategic sustainability advisers and specialist services across its sectors, tasked with supporting net zero, nature recovery and social impact initiatives. It reflects a wider public-sector shift towards framework-based access to environmental and social expertise.
The Crown Estate intends to establish a multi-supplier framework covering “strategic sustainability advisory and specialist services across various sectors” of its activities. The stated purpose is to support net zero, nature recovery and social impact initiatives, signalling that environmental and social outcomes are being treated as core business issues rather than add-ons.
Describing the arrangement as both “strategic” and “specialist” suggests it is expected to operate at more than one level: informing long-term planning on net zero and nature recovery, and providing targeted expertise where particular projects or programmes demand it. The reference to “various sectors” indicates that the buyer wants a single route to advice that can be used across different lines of activity rather than separate consultancy contracts for each area.
Opting for a multi-supplier framework rather than a single lead adviser is also notable. Such frameworks typically allow a mix of organisations to join a panel, with competition or rotation for individual work packages, giving buyers access to a broader range of skills through a compliant, repeatable route. Beyond these headline aims, the short public summary offers little detail on the precise structure of the agreement, but its launch adds a substantial new opportunity to the fast-growing market for sustainability consultancy frameworks.
The framework is unusual in expressly linking three priorities – net zero, nature recovery and social impact – in a single advisory vehicle. Many recent procurements focus on one or two of these strands; taken together, they show the breadth of work that sustainability consultants are now expected to support.
On net zero, in June 2025 The Common Services Agency, more commonly known as NHS National Services Scotland, issued a prior information notice for Sustainability Solutions for NHS Grampian. That exercise seeks companies to help achieve “significant carbon reduction goals” through fully funded renewable energy solutions such as power purchase agreements, solar photovoltaics and battery storage.
In September 2025, the North of England NHS Commercial Procurement Collaborative followed with a prior information notice for Decarbonisation Framework Support. It is seeking support for the development and execution of Green Plans in the NHS and wider public sector, offering a procurement solution for estates decarbonisation and energy infrastructure with a range of service options.
Nature recovery, meanwhile, is emerging as its own advisory theme. In August 2025, Cambridgeshire County Council advertised Nature-Based Solutions for Finance, seeking research on how nature-based solutions can improve the financial viability of low carbon energy projects and deepen understanding of their benefits. The following month, the National Lottery Heritage Fund went to market for Landscape Connections Evaluation Services, asking a supplier to design a strategic evaluation framework and theory of change for a major nature recovery and landscape restoration initiative.
On the social side, in July 2025 the East of England NHS Collaborative Hub issued a contract notice for a Social Impact Framework. This multi-lot agreement is intended to help NHS organisations and other public bodies commission community-based services that address health inequalities and improve access to support, with an emphasis on prevention, community-led initiatives and amplifying the voice of marginalised groups.
Against that backdrop, The Crown Estate’s decision to wrap net zero, nature recovery and social impact into one sustainability advisory framework points towards a more integrated view of environmental and social value.
The new framework also reflects a wider shift towards using framework agreements as the standard way to buy in sustainability expertise. Rather than commissioning isolated studies, public bodies are setting up multi-year panels they can call on as their net zero and nature recovery work evolves.
The Crown Estate itself has already moved in this direction. In June 2025, The Crown Estate Commissioners published a contract notice for a Commercial Advisory Services Framework, seeking suppliers to provide commercial advice for offshore wind projects and other marine sectors. That marine framework emphasises a strong understanding of the industry and “strategic systems thinking”, showing the value the organisation places on integrated, long-term advice.
Across the public estate, sustainability is being built into wider professional services panels. In July 2025, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS, on behalf of NHS Commercial Solutions, began market engagement on a Sustainable Estates Solutions Framework to tackle climate change impacts on estates and facilities. The London Universities Purchasing Consortium followed in August 2025 with its Sustainable Estates Services Framework, an eight-lot arrangement covering roles from project management and quantity surveying to planning consultancy, architectural design and fire safety advice.
Energy agencies are adopting similar models. The Energy Saving Trust issued a contract notice in June 2025 for Technical Advice and Project Management support to community projects funded through the CARES scheme, focused on renewable and local energy. In November 2025, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland sought expert consultants under a Trusted Advisor Support Services Framework to help deliver its Community Enabling Framework and manage Community Benefit Funds, with lots covering both community-facing and authority-specific support.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland is weaving sustainability into its core governance arrangements. In November 2025 it advertised Sustainability Programme Management Services, seeking a provider to deliver a strategic sustainability programme management office, integrating sustainability into operations through governance, performance tracking, risk management and stakeholder engagement.
Together, these notices point to an emerging norm: rather than treating sustainability as a series of discrete projects, public bodies are institutionalising it through standing advisory frameworks that can be drawn on as strategies change and ambitions increase.
The Crown Estate’s Sustainability Advisory Framework is still described only in broad terms, centred on net zero, nature recovery and social impact across various sectors. The short public summary does not spell out how the framework will be structured, how many suppliers may be appointed or how call-off work will be managed.
Even without that detail, the notice confirms that sustainability advice is becoming a standing requirement for major asset owners, rather than an occasional specialist commission. For consultants, it underlines the importance of framework participation as a route into long-term environmental and social value work. For the public sector, it raises questions about how to coordinate multiple advisory panels – from marine commercial advice to estates decarbonisation and community benefit – into a coherent sustainability strategy.
Over the coming months, it will be worth watching how this framework is shaped and how it interacts with other advisory arrangements across the UK and beyond. Taken together with the flurry of related procurements in 2025, its launch suggests that framework-based access to sustainability expertise is becoming a fixed feature of public-sector procurement.
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