Clients and their supply chains have intensified efforts to engage with each other on carbon reduction in recent years as the need for collaboration to meet net zero targets becomes clear.
“I think we all [clients and suppliers] get [the idea] that meeting the challenge of decarbonising construction and transport is important for all of us. It’s for the health of the industries as a whole,” says National Highways director of environmental sustainability Stephen Elderkin.
National Highways published its net zero plan in July 2021. It includes some targets that it cannot achieve alone, as the organisation needs its whole supply chain to work towards the same goals.
The plan commits National Highways to achieving net zero corporate emissions by 2030, net zero construction and maintenance-related emissions by 2040 and net zero carbon travel on its roads by 2050.
Elderkin says that only 0.1% of National Highways’ overall carbon footprint comes from corporate emissions – those that arise directly from the activities of National Highways staff – highlighting the importance of supply chain engagement.
“The only way we can have a nationally significant impact on carbon emissions is if we concern ourselves about our supply chain’s footprint and the carbon that’s associated with our projects and procurement. There is no choice but to be working in partnership with our supply chain to reduce our carbon impact,” he explains.
There is no choice but to be working in partnership with our supply chain to reduce our carbon impact
“It is not that we are having to drag the supply chain to be talking about this [carbon footprint],” he says, adding that he has seen great interest in carbon reduction among suppliers.
He says that, for example, some of National Highways’ big tier one contractors organise internal events to inform their staff about how they as companies are going to rise to the challenge of cutting their operational carbon or construction carbon.
Laing O’Rourke is a good example of a UK tier one contractor which is making a big effort to slash its carbon footprint by 2030. The contractor’s goal is to achieve operational net zero across its scope 1 emissions – direct emissions from owned or controlled sources – by then. It wants to achieve the same with its scope 2 emissions which are indirect emissions from purchased electricity or energy for heating and cooling. It aims to become a net zero company by 2050.
Laing O’Rourke head of sustainability Rossella Nicolin acknowledges that reaching the 2050 goal will be challenging. This is because it requires net zero scope 3 emissions – indirect emissions from the supply chain – to reach net zero too.
She highlights the fact that this makes collaboration between the company and its supply chain even more important.
Nicolin specifies that by using the term supply chain she is referring to materials and products suppliers as well as “different stakeholders in the construction ecosystem, in particular design partners and consultants”.
Dialogue
Communication will be critical if net zero is to be achieved throughout the supply chain. Nicolin says that information about Laing O’Rourke’s sustainability objectives is communicated to suppliers during the onboarding process for new suppliers and new projects. She adds that business leaders, technical leaders and procurement leaders on each project are having detailed conversations about carbon with their supply chains.
As well as engaging directly with suppliers, National Highways is communicating its actions and expectations using various means including events, podcasts and webinars.
The road operator’s category managers for particular materials have also been working with supply chain representatives to set out the roadmaps to help the organisation decarbonise key materials and processes.
Last December, National Highways published roadmaps for concrete, steel and asphalt in conjunction with its supply chain and trade bodies.
“What we will look to do is to reflect that [the requirements set out in the roadmaps] in our procurement requirements for materials. As we get confidence that the supply chain can meet ever more exacting low carbon standards, that will be reflected in our purchasing approach and the standards that we will use,” Elderkin adds.
Accreditation
To reach net zero targets, clients will impose additional requirements on their supply chains. Some public sector organisations are requesting PAS 2080 carbon management accreditation, which underwent a major revamp last year.
The PAS 2080 carbon management in infrastructure accreditation is a specification for managing whole-life carbon in infrastructure.
It was developed by the Construction Leadership Council’s Green Construction Board with the British Standards Institute. PAS 2080 provides a consistent framework for evaluating and managing carbon across infrastructure.
National Highways’ system for reducing carbon during the design, construction and operation of England’s strategic road network has achieved the accreditation.
If someone has an idea that is helping them to reduce carbon, they should share that across the industry
“We will require all of our tier one and two suppliers to become accredited under PAS 2080 by 2025,” says Elderkin.
“Other public sector clients will be making the same requirement. That means that contractors will have to have ways of measuring and managing their carbon footprint. They will have to have information available that they can pass on to us.”
He adds that most companies in National Highways’ supply chain are aware of the standard and have started the process of gaining accreditation.
Elderkin acknowledges that this can be challenging for many companies as their existing systems and processes do not factor in carbon and sustainability.
“Getting your data and reporting in the right place is going to take some effort and a bit of time, so I would encourage our supply chain to be thinking now in order to be in a place where they are accredited in 2025”.
National Highways worked with its supply chain to test low carbon concrete reinforced with basalt fibre.
Data sharing
It is not just public sector organisations that will require their supply chains to share data. Nicolin explains that carbon data sharing will be important to Laing O’Rourke’s efforts to achieve its net zero targets.
This is because it will help the firm calculate the total carbon footprint of a building or piece of infrastructure. She acknowledges that this will be a challenge as some companies have not been tracking emissions on a detailed basis.
“We are asking our suppliers to have environmental product declarations [a document that quantifiably demonstrates the environmental impacts of a product] as much as possible and have carbon data,” she says.
Innovation
Collaboration between supply chains and clients is already resulting in low carbon solutions.
Nicolin points to the Gramm Barriers PolySoundBlok noise damping barrier system that is being used on the East West Rail project as an example.
Instead of traditional metal, timber and concrete solutions, these barriers are manufactured from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, developed by Laing O’Rourke and other members of East West Railway Company’s supply chain. In total, 3km of these noise barriers were used for the project, leading to carbon savings of 513tCO2e compared with conventional noise barriers. The full carbon cost of the barriers has not been shared.
Another example is on National Highways’ £282M M42 Junction 6 improvement scheme in the Midlands. Here, low carbon reinforced concrete is being trialled on the temporary haul road for construction vehicles to access the construction site.
The trial is being led by Skanska in partnership with the National Composites Centre and is funded by National Highways. It compares traditional steel reinforced concrete with a low carbon concrete reinforced with basalt fibre.
The Gramm Barriers PolySoundBlok used on East West Rail is a key example of how supply chain collaboration is driving down embodied carbon
Tarmac provided two types of concrete for the trial. One was a mix comprising conventional blended cementitious material. The other was a low carbon mix using an alkali activated cementitious material in place of the cement.
The carbon footprint of the low carbon concrete was up to 80% lower than that of standard concrete, while the basalt fibre reinforcement polymer offered 60% fewer CO2 emissions than steel. It is equally as resilient when compared to conventional steel reinforced concrete. The trial is to be extended to the wider network.
Materials company Tarmac aims to be carbon net zero by 2050 and has a shorter term target of a 45% reduction in CO2 per tonne of product by 2030. It acknowledges that innovation within its supply chain is needed for those targets to be achieved.
Tarmac launched its Supplier Sustainability Week in 2021. The aim is to improve collaboration with suppliers so that they can collectively work towards net zero.
At the same time it launched its Tarmac Decarbonisation Club. The club now comprises 16 suppliers collaborating on net zero transition and on solutions that can be implemented across construction and infrastructure projects.
“It is a platform for companies to pitch short term, medium term and long term ideas to us,” says Tarmac procurement manager for capex and sustainability Mark Lewis.
“We realised that not all great ideas were invented within Tarmac. There is a wealth of knowledge in our existing supply base but also in the wider business world. We want companies to come to us with ideas, innovations and new technology.”
To date, 120 recommendations have been generated and 60% of these ideas use technology that is currently available or will be available within the next two years. The recommendations have been mapped and judged against three main criteria: cost, timescales to implement and potential carbon savings.
Mindset change
These innovations show how important it is for construction industry players to work together to achieve net zero.
Nicolin adds that there must be a change of mindset, with carbon becoming a new dimension in terms of project assessment.
She says: “Normally a project is assessed based on the triangle of cost, programme and quality. I would like to use a diamond, introducing carbon/sustainability as a fourth dimension.”
Elderkin wants the market to view carbon in a similar way to safety, with companies working to reduce it without seeking to gain commercial advantage.
He adds: “If someone knows of something that improves safety and will protect people from harm, the expectation is that the knowledge will be shared. I think there is a real parallel here with the climate crisis. If someone has an idea that is helping them to reduce carbon, they should share that across the industry.”
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