Skanska-led coalition criticises ‘vague’ construction climate targets

The new report from a coalition led by Skanska has criticised vague carbon-reduction targets, which could undermine the construction industry's efforts to reach net-zero emissions. 

The report, titled Is our carbon wallet empty?, claimed there are wide variances in forecasting carbon usage and called for common data standards, reporting structures and changes in design.

The study takes the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) to task for not including any assessment of the carbon generated by construction associated with infrastructure investments when it reviewed its recommendations in light of new national net-zero targets. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) was also criticised for not providing an annual update of the infrastructure pipeline in 2019 and instead just covering planned public procurement within a single financial year.

The report states that the lack of a regularly updated national infrastructure pipeline damages the ability to assess the carbon costs of projects. It said: “The cessation of regular pipeline publication, and the inconsistency of information provided in the most recent iteration, makes it challenging to accurately determine future investments and the associated carbon emissions. A return to regular publication with a consistent format would be welcomed.”

The report has been compiled by the Net Zero Infrastructure Industry Coalition (NZIIC), which is led by Skanska and whose members include Mott MacDonald, Pinsent Masons, the Carbon Trust, National Grid, Leeds City Council and Transport for London.

The coalition believes a common industry-wide approach is needed to improve the availability, quality and transparency of data, underpinning initiatives to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050. It is also calling for significant change in how new assets are designed at feasibility stage. It warns that that the infrastructure sector will miss legally binding carbon budgets that place restrictions on the total amount of greenhouse gases the UK can emit.

It recommends that the industry must create a single, universally recognised, and constantly improving source of carbon emission data for the full range of construction products and building materials. The construction sector should also develop common, long-term sector targets and trajectories, from which individual companies and projects can be measured against.

The final recommendation is that carbon neutral design options for every asset should be considered prior to planning and tender, by the asset owners.

Chris Hayes, NZIIC board member and Skanska’s sustainability operations director said: “While there is plenty of political and industry commitment to driving down carbon consumption, we lack consistent methods to achieving it. Put simply, the will is there but the tools are not.”

Ruth Finlayson, carbon manager for Skanska and project manager for this coalition report added: “If we cannot quantify our carbon usage, we cannot know the impact on the UK carbon budget. How can individual projects and the wider infrastructure sector plan their journey to net-zero without knowing the proportion of the UK’s budget they should be working to?”