The Department for Transport (DfT) has published guidance to support the development of Carbon Management Plans (CMPs) for transport infrastructure projects.

Creating a carbon management plan for a transport project sets out best practice for managing whole-life carbon, providing advice for project sponsors, client teams, consultants, delivery bodies and local authorities responsible for developing and assuring transport infrastructure projects.

All DfT-funded transport infrastructure projects subject to the department’s business case assurance process are required to produce and maintain a CMP. The plans set out how projects will assess, manage, reduce and monitor whole-life carbon emissions, helping to embed carbon considerations into decision-making throughout the project lifecycle.

The guidance is aligned with PAS 2080:2023- Carbon Management in Buildings and Infrastructure and is accompanied by a standardised CMP template to help improve consistency and the quality of carbon management plans.

Embedding carbon management throughout project lifecycles

The guidance highlights the importance of considering carbon from the earliest stages of project development, when there are greater opportunities to influence design decisions and avoid unnecessary emissions.

It outlines the PAS 2080:2023 carbon reduction hierarchy, which prioritises:

• Avoid: Challenge the need for new infrastructure and consider opportunities to reuse, retrofit or repurpose existing assets.
• Switch: Explore alternative solutions, materials and technologies that can reduce whole-life emissions.
• Improve: Increase resource efficiency, extend asset lifespans and apply circular economy principles, including reuse and recycling.
• Offsetting should only be considered as a last resort, once reasonable opportunities to avoid, switch and improve emissions have been explored.

Key areas of guidance

The publication covers several aspects of effective carbon management, including:

• Governance and leadership, with clear roles, responsibilities and carbon objectives.
• Whole-life carbon assessments to establish baselines and identify opportunities for emissions reductions.
• Identifying carbon hotspots and developing appropriate mitigation measures.
• Setting carbon reduction targets and managing risks to achieving them.
• Integrating carbon considerations into procurement and supply chain engagement.
• Monitoring and reporting carbon performance throughout project delivery.

The guidance also emphasises the importance of collaboration across the project supply chain, alongside building the skills and knowledge needed to embed carbon management into everyday project decisions.

The level of detail required in a CMP should be proportionate to the project's scale, complexity and business case stage, with assessments and targets becoming more detailed as projects progress.

Supporting early-stage carbon assessments

The guidance was updated on 29 October 2026 to include a link to the DfT's newly published Transport infrastructure carbon benchmarks.

These benchmarks provide typical whole-life carbon estimates for common major road and rail infrastructure assets. They are intended to support early-stage assessments, helping project teams establish carbon baselines, compare options and identify carbon hotspots before detailed design information is available.

The benchmarks can be used when preparing a CMP for a Strategic Outline Business Case, complementing the wider carbon management guidance.