Constraint

MPG and CO2 targets

The MPG is a building's environmental performance: a single number for the environmental impact of all its materials together. New build has a legal ceiling, and clients increasingly pair it with a CO2 reduction target in the same tender. If you have a product or a contractor that scores well on either, you have to be there before the specification closes.

What is this constraint?

New homes and offices have a legal ceiling for the environmental performance of the building, the MPG. The number is calculated from the materials in it. Lower is better. In civil engineering the MKI does the same job for a project or a product. Increasingly a tender adds a CO2 reduction target or a certification requirement for the contractor's carbon footprint alongside that ceiling.

That national MPG ceiling is the floor, not the playing field. Municipalities and other clients set the requirement lower in their own tenders and land tenders, and a growing number pair it with a CO2 target on top. For a supplier or a contractor that changes the order of the conversation.

Once the requirement is in the specification, the choice has largely been made. The moment that counts is earlier: the policy agreement, the land tender or the selection document in which a client decides how strict to be.

Modou reads the register of the Dutch national environmental database, which records which products are listed with which environmental performance. That is the fixed source for this constraint. What a specific project actually demands, whether it is an MPG number or a CO2 target, Modou reads as dated text in the tender, the specification, the land tender or the agreement. Modou claims no national per-project MPG or CO2 monitor here.

Which documents it shows up in

The register of the Dutch national environmental database: Why that is a reason to callIt records which products are listed with which environmental performance. If your product scores well, that is your argument in every tender steering on MPG or MKI.
Tenders and specifications with an MPG, MKI or CO2 requirement: Why that is a reason to callThe requirement is in there in black and white, with a closing date. That is the last moment to have any influence.
Municipal land tenders and selection documents: Why that is a reason to callMunicipalities weigh material choice into the award here. Whoever is at the table before the document is written helps decide what goes in it.
Policy agreements and sustainability reports from clients: Why that is a reason to callThese state what a client will demand over the coming years, often years before the first tender.

Who sells into this

Construction suppliers

Concrete, steel and masonry products with a low environmental cost indicator
Reused and circular facade and building products
Products with their own record in the national environmental database

Energy companies

Building services that count towards a building's environmental performance
Heating and ventilation systems with a low environmental impact
Carbon accounting and CO2 reduction advice for contractors

Example from a public document

Construction supplier

What happened

One municipality reports an average MPG of 0.55 for new homes delivered in 2025, well under the legal ceiling most projects still work to.

Source:: Municipal sustainability report
Date:: 2025

Why this matters to you

A ceiling that low is not the legal minimum, it is what the client now treats as normal. A supplier who cannot show a competitive number is not part of the conversation.

Why now

Municipalities publish an average like this to set the bar for the next round of tenders, not as a one-off. Any project now entering land tender preparation is being measured against it.

Who to call

Sustainability adviser or procurement lead at the municipality

Phone number, where publicly findable
LinkedIn, where publicly findable

This example comes from a public document.

Frequently asked questions

My product is in the national environmental database. Is that enough?

It is your evidence, not your sale. It makes your claim solid at the moment someone chooses. What you still need is to know who makes that choice and when. That is in the tender, the land tender and the agreement that came before it.

Does Modou track each contractor's CO2 score?

No. Modou has no live monitor for MPG or CO2 scores. What it reads is the dated text in tenders, specifications, land tenders and the policy agreements and reports that set the requirement, the same way it reads every other constraint.

Want to be there before the specification closes?

Plan a 7-working-day pilot. Every working day you get the agreements, land tenders and tenders where the MPG or CO2 requirement is written, with source, date and who to call.

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