Cross-industry action on embodied carbon

The Construction Industry Council has put online three new climate action briefings which cover ‘Cross-industry Action on Embodied Carbon’, ‘How IStructE is taking action on embodied Carbon’ and ‘Progress on the Built Environment Carbon Database’.

The videos are courtesy of Workstream 4 of 'Carbon Zero: the professional institutions’ climate action plan’, which covers resource use and embodied carbon and is led by the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE).

They include an update on the Built Environment Carbon Database which is envisioned to be the main source of carbon estimating and benchmarking for the UK construction sector, plus a look at what the construction industry has been doing to reduce whole-life and embodied carbon emissions.

The videos last between 7 and 12 minutes and can be found through the links below and on the Construction Industry Council YouTube channel.

The Climate Action Plan is proposed by the professional institutions and organisations active in the construction and property industries – covering both the natural and built environments, as convened by the Construction Industry Council (CIC).

The signatories to this Action Plan agree that:

• the actions listed are necessary for dealing with the challenge of climate change;

• they will implement those actions appropriate to them as an institution/organisation; and

• they will support the other signatory institutions and organisations in delivering the remaining actions.

The actions will prepare the construction and property sectors for making the long-discussed transition to becoming an effective and digitally enabled industry, able to deliver on the challenges and obligations ahead, including the important need to respond to the building safety agenda and delivering safe outcomes, in particular in the residential sector.

The plan identifies 10 areas of work, which embrace all interests within the CIC and were developed in close collaboration with a diverse range of institutions, organisations and individuals.

In the longer-term the great majority of built environment professionals; properly supported by legislation and standards, guidance, tools, training and education; must be fully able to design a functional and safe environment with minimum use of resources and achieve net zero carbon reduction targets for all their significant projects. This will be mirrored in the far greater regulatory focus on CPD and competence that the new, post-Grenfell, building safety regime will introduce and the timeline for implementation will need to align with the deadlines for action required under that new system