A new contract for integrated climate services signals a shift towards evidence-led planning that links resilience, mitigation and cross-sector climate impacts.
Follow Tenderlake on LinkedIn for concise insights on public-sector tenders and emerging procurement signals.
The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero is procuring integrated climate services to combine mitigation and adaptation, strengthen the UK's resilience and support national net zero goals.
On 18th December 2025, the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero published a contract notice for Climate Services for Resilience. The department is seeking a contractor to provide climate services that integrate mitigation and adaptation strategies, with the aim of enhancing resilience and supporting the UK's net zero goals. The work is framed around research, assessment of climate resilience and an understanding of cross-sectoral impacts.
The explicit focus on integrating mitigation and adaptation marks this out from several other recent climate-related procurements, which often focus either on emissions reduction or on adaptation, but not both. Here, the department is signalling that reaching net zero and adapting to a changing climate need to be planned together, rather than in isolation. That framing places resilience at the heart of how energy and climate policy are expected to evolve.
The emphasis on cross-sectoral impacts also points towards analysis that cuts across traditional departmental or industry boundaries. Rather than concentrating on a single asset class or policy area, the contractor is being asked to consider how climate risks and responses may interact across different parts of the economy and society. Combined with the research focus, this positions the contract as upstream, evidence-building work rather than delivery of physical projects.
Across the UK and Ireland, public bodies are commissioning similar evidence-led exercises to underpin their climate strategies. In July 2025, West Sussex County Council went to market for consultants to create two climate action plans focusing on mitigation and adaptation strategies (Climate Action Plans for West Sussex). In September 2025, Cork City Council sought services to deliver an updated climate change risk assessment in support of its climate action plan, aligning with climate risk and vulnerability requirements (Climate Change Risk Assessment Services).
At a national planning level, Germany's Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung (BBSR) im Bundesamt für Bauwesen und Raumordnung (BBR) published a contract notice in September 2025 for Climate Change Adaptation Support. That procurement calls for professional support to strengthen how climate change impacts are considered in state and regional spatial planning, including the development and testing of a climate risk analysis methodology across three planning regions. The focus on systematic risk analysis echoes the resilience assessment objectives set out by the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero.
Climate resilience work is also being framed in explicitly cross-sectoral terms. In December 2025, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office outlined plans for the Resilience in Agriculture and Investing in Nature Zambia programme, aiming to improve agricultural productivity and natural resource management through policy reform, market integration and strategic partnerships (Resilience in Agriculture Zambia). The aim of fostering climate-resilient rural economies mirrors the way the new UK climate services contract links resilience with wider economic and policy considerations.
Alongside adaptation and risk assessment, decarbonisation programmes are becoming more systemic. In September 2025, the Crown Commercial Service issued a prior information notice for an Energy Supply and Decarbonisation Framework, covering the supply and management of electricity and gas to more than 1,000 customers. As well as commodity supply, that framework is intended to cover energy management, risk strategies and alignment with decarbonisation policies.
Regional and local authorities are taking a similar approach at project level. In July 2025, the West of England Combined Authority, through the South West Net Zero Hub, sought support to develop projects that reduce emissions and promote sustainability under its Heat Decarbonisation Options notice. Around the same time, North West Leicestershire District Council advertised for retrofit consultancy and project management services to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions in approximately 800 homes with low energy performance ratings (Energy Consultancy for Housing Decarbonisation).
Major public landowners are also formalising their need for strategic climate advice. On 8th December 2025, The Crown Estate launched a multi-supplier Sustainability Advisory Framework for strategic sustainability advisory and specialist services across sectors, designed to support net zero, nature recovery and social impact initiatives. Earlier in July 2025, Crown Estate Scotland sought expert analysis on energy market grid constraints affecting offshore wind production through its Grid Constraints Consultancy notice, while in August 2025 Cambridgeshire County Council invited research on how nature-based solutions and ecosystem services could improve the financial viability of low-carbon energy projects (Nature-Based Solutions for Finance).
Delivering these strategies depends increasingly on data and tools that can track emissions, costs and climate impacts. In November 2025, the City of London Corporation signalled plans for an ESG and Sustainability System, seeking a modern cloud-based platform to improve visibility of cost, carbon usage and consumption. The system is expected to leverage AI technologies to support the Corporation's net zero target by 2027 and to generate market insights for future procurement opportunities.
Specialist climate services are also evolving around energy and finance. In November 2025, the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts published a contract notice for an Enhanced C3S Energy Service, seeking partners to co-develop online seasonal demonstrators and tools with energy users and to maintain operational services for the energy sector. Another notice that month from the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, covering Carbon Offsetting for ECMWF Relocation, focuses on high-integrity carbon credits and sustainability practices linked to a new net zero headquarters. Earlier in August 2025, UK Research & Innovation looked for research and analysis to identify interventions that can help create effective markets for low-carbon, resource-efficient materials and circular business models (Resource Efficiency Market Development).
The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero's new climate services contract sits at the intersection of these trends. The notice highlights three core elements: research into climate resilience, strategies that integrate mitigation and adaptation in support of the UK's net zero goals, and analysis of cross-sectoral impacts. Together, these point to a need for evidence that can inform decisions across government and help align energy security, economic policy and climate objectives.
Compared with more narrowly defined decarbonisation or adaptation projects, the scope here is deliberately broad and analytical. Rather than specifying a single technology, sector or geography, the department is asking for services that can join up disparate strands of climate policy and practice. Such cross-sector analysis brings into view how mitigation and adaptation choices interact, including where risks and impacts may cross between sectors.
The short description published for the contract does not set out detailed work packages, so much will depend on how the full specification is framed and how the successful contractor interprets the brief. Even so, the procurement underlines a clear direction of travel visible across many 2025 tenders: public bodies are commissioning integrated climate services that treat net zero, resilience and social outcomes as linked challenges. How far this new contract can translate that ambition into actionable insight will be an important test for both government and the growing climate services market.
Follow Tenderlake on LinkedIn for concise insights on public-sector tenders and emerging procurement signals.