clean construction UNLOCKING NET ZERO
JULY 2021
Later this year, the UK hosts the international climate change conference, COP26, in Glasgow. It should not be surprising to anyone that environmental issues are taking centre stage in the business arena, especially in the construction and infrastructure sector which is so important to the global effort to address climate change.
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It is no exaggeration to say that without the active involvement and engagement of our industry in the UK and internationally, the battle against climate change cannot be won. The sector’s input is crucial to addressing environmental harms and to securing a sustainable future for all citizens.
Against the backdrop of a growing climate emergency, this report gives the construction and infrastructure industry the opportunity to understand how the UK’s infrastructure pipeline can be successfully delivered to underpin the transition and ultimate delivery of a net zero society.
That’s why Tarmac has teamed up with Infrastructure Intelligence to canvass the views of professionals from across the construction and infrastructure industry in a unique research project aimed at providing a snapshot of views and attitudes to carbon reduction and net zero.
It is clear that no construction company active in the UK can afford to ignore the net zero agenda. We hope that this report helps in shining a spotlight on the key issues facing the industry and what needs to be done to achieve a genuinely sustainable future.
This report, Clean construction: unlocking net zero, includes the results of a survey we conducted to canvass the latest views of the sector and also contains a number of essential insights from industry decision makers about the key challenges being faced on the journey ahead to net zero.
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Clarity on strategy needed
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More than 60% of construction and infrastructure professionals would like the UK government to launch a national net zero strategy before the start of COP26, with 57% also calling for the government to provide clarity on plans and support for key energy infrastructure including carbon capture, usage and storage.
These are two of the key findings from our exclusive survey that looked at a range of industry attitudes to unlocking net zero – with 45% of respondents also calling on the government to provide guidance and training to help the infrastructure sector decarbonise.
The survey also clearly found that 82% of clients considered setting targets and earlier engagement at the preliminary stage to be the main contributing factors in reducing carbon on projects.
And, on the same theme, client strategy and management (52%) and materials (20%) were the two main factors currently delivering significant carbon reduction opportunities, with skills and knowledge (13%), cost (7%) and procurement (6%) also highlighted.
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As we all look forward to a post-Covid future and consider building back better and greener, it is more crucial than ever to recognise both the opportunities but also the barriers ahead to help us to create an improved, resilient, low-carbon built environment for future generations.
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Against the backdrop of a growing climate emergency, this report gives the construction and infrastructure industry the opportunity to take a deeper look at how the UK’s vital infrastructure pipeline can be successfully delivered to deliver a net zero society.
e barri e r s d th an
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While the survey highlighted a lot of positive attitudes in the drive to achieving net zero, it also raised a number of concerns that the industry still has to battle against including complacency, established ways of working, cost issues and a resistance to change amongst some stakeholders, while striving to put positive words into action for the good of the society it serves.
For example, 65% of survey respondents were confident the UK will deliver the prime minister’s target to reduce carbon by 68% by 2030, compared to the 35% who are not confident the target will be achieved. However, that 65% confidence could easily be described as fragile, with a combined 62% of respondents expressing only slight or moderate confidence that the target would be met, compared to only 4% who are highly confident. This scepticism is even more relevant given the government’s recently revised commitment to reduce carbon by 78% by 2035 and notwithstanding this new, more ambitious target, clearly the government has much more to do to convince the industry – and indeed society – that it is serious about decarbonising and achieving net zero.
Interestingly, 35% of those surveyed said that government funding and support was the single biggest threat to delivering the National Infrastructure Strategy, with legal and environmental issues (22%) and planning delays (18%) also ranking highly. Other important factors that could potentially derail the strategy, including delays between procurement and project commencement (9%), Brexit (8%) and private investment (7%), also struck a chord within the industry.
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Training wanted for a net zero world and before COP26
Room for improvement But government support and policy aside, the survey showed that the industry itself also has room for improvement. Although almost 55% of respondents said their company or organisation already has a net zero strategy or roadmap, almost 29% said no, and a further 16% were unsure. And although 25% of respondents said they began to evaluate carbon at the start of their involvement on projects – with the majority (45%) evaluating throughout and towards
the end of the project – an alarming 25% still didn’t evaluate carbon on the projects they were working on. So, clearly there’s work to be done there. Looking further ahead, 84% of respondents said that net zero provided an advantage for their business – though a concerning 15% saw no advantage to their business. And, while 73% believe that net zero is not a threat to their business, 15% believe that net zero threatens their business survival, with a further 11% unsure.
Client leadership can create a culture of “how can we do even better?”
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Industry evaluation of carbon on projects remains a mixed picture. While 30% of respondents say that they evaluate carbon throughout the lifecycle of the project, a quarter of respondents do not measure carbon at all.
COP26 is seen as a significant green threshold for many people. Before the summit doors open in Glasgow in November, nearly 50% of respondents want more guidance and training to help the infrastructure sector decarbonise. Nick Toy, senior national commercial development manager at Tarmac, said: “This for me is actually very positive news because it shows a willingness to want to learn. It’s a firm acceptance that we collectively don’t have all the answers. It means that when people are empowered with knowledge and training, they will think.”
Just under 20% reported that they personally saw a combination of approaches on projects – with carbon performance sometimes evaluated at the start of a project, on other schemes at the end, and sometimes not at all. Emma Hines, senior manager – sustainable construction for Tarmac, said: “It’s clear in some of the responses that whether a project evaluates carbon and at what intervals during the lifecycle is ultimately led by the client. For many contractors carbon evaluation is an
opportunity cost – if the client is willing to pay, of course it will happen. Clients have a major role to set challenging targets but also to create a culture of ‘how can we do even better’? The aim should be to embed and measure whole life carbon performance throughout the project. “At Tarmac, we’re still inundated with requests for carbon performance data retrospectively at the end of project. This approach will not deliver the best environmental performance or outcomes. It’s really a missed opportunity for businesses like ours to be able to work up front with clients and contractors to collectively consider how to cut carbon. This is about selecting the most appropriate products for the job, the design of those products, as well as the transport and logistics.”
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While there are good levels of understanding about what constitutes embodied carbon and whole life measurement, this level of awareness is not always necessarily translating into delivery.
Over 70% of respondents confirmed that they understand whole life measurement principles but just over a third of companies are using this method.
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Carbon understanding is high
but knowledge is not always being translated into delivery
Dr Martyn Kenny, sustainability director, Tarmac, said: “This is a missed opportunity because using embodied carbon measurements often fails to consider performance over an asset’s lifecycle, risking sub-optimal design and specification, and it does not give enough consideration for the environmental impacts during use, maintenance and demolition which can be significantly influenced by the design and materials chosen. The transition to a net zero society requires a greater understanding of long-term impact.
“Tackling carbon requires an industry-wide approach and early engagement to shape and embed whole-life measurement from the outset. Those building an asset may have less interest in its long-term carbon and cost performance and duly prioritise a more simplistic embodied carbon evaluation that overlooks whole-life impacts. Engaging with construction products manufacturers early in the design process will help clients and contractors make better-informed decisions about materials and design specification that improve whole-life performance.” As ever, costs loomed large in people’s thinking, though 80% of respondents expressed a willingness to pay more for low carbon products, services or materials. Almost 20%, disappointingly, expressed no willingness to pay more. The cost of achieving net zero buildings and other projects was also raised by a number of those industry decision-makers we interviewed whose views are highlighted in this report. The willingness of clients, including government, to consider whole life costs on projects will be crucial in ensuring that the industry is able to deliver truly sustainable, net zero infrastructure going forward.
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Carbon accounting is creating system overload Emma Hines, senior manager – sustainable construction for Tarmac, said: “When it comes to accounting for carbon, a wide range of responses suggests that there are too many systems and bespoke tools being used and not enough commonality between businesses’ approaches. Some contractors are currently building their own embodied carbon databases when tools already exist. 12
“There’s an element of greenplating procurement to create new accounting measures which might give a balanced scorecard for carbon at a corporate level but perhaps do not always deliver improved environmental outcomes for projects. Many people in the research cited PAS 2080 as the tool they use for carbon measurement. This is a great tool for projects but not something that would be used corporately by the whole business to measure carbon.” Only if we understand the challenges we face and ask the important – and sometimes difficult – questions, can we make progress on our journey to a net zero future. We hope that this report will provide an important snapshot of UK infrastructure, including essential insights into the industry’s current views on net zero and some pointers on the steps that the sector needs to take to deliver on its environmental targets.
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Thanks go to the industry specialists and leaders from the following organisations, for giving their time and significant expertise towards the creation of this report. Constructionarium Atkins Morgan Sindall The Environment Agency Tideway The Environmental Industries Commission Costain Arcadis Balfour Beatty Laing O’Rourke Skanska