Major suppliers to the federal government will have to start disclosing their carbon footprint to keep doing business with Ottawa.

But Treasury Board President Mona Fortier did not answer a question about whether the directive will actually force companies to make their carbon footprints smaller.

Starting April 1, any company awarded a government contract worth more than $25 million will have to publish their annual greenhouse gas emissions.

They also need to use the federal Net Zero Challenge or a similar system to set targets and report on progress.

The challenge requires participants to set a net-zero emissions target by 2050, but there are no penalties if the targets are missed.

The federal government buys more than $22 billion in goods and services annually but the government’s contracts database lists only 127 individual contracts worth more than $25 million last year.