How sector collaboration can deliver decarbonisation

At COP26 last year, Construct Zero was launched to take a sector wide approach to decarbonising construction in the UK. With construction in the UK accounting for nearly 40% of emissions, the potential impact for the environment and the UK’s net zero target is enormous. 

Delivering net zero in sectors this large requires collaboration across different companies, and industries to ensure materials such as concrete, steel, and glass, are decarbonised to meet the UK’s 2050 net zero target. Through establishing a plan for decarbonising the entire UK construction sector – the first plan of this type in the world, the coalition seeks to encourage a cohesion between the companies who have signed up to Construct Zero and the wider sector. 

With such a large scope, Construct Zero has set 9 priorities that have the largest capacity for impact. By isolating what areas of the sector are producing the most carbon, namely transport, buildings and construction activity, the coalition has set a plan to deliver net zero that aligns with the government’s 10 point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

Progress one year on.

One year on, CBI’s Director of Decarbonisation, alongside leaders from Construct Zero and other industry partners, came together to launch the findings from the first year of the initiative and discuss successes and map the challenges ahead. 

The message was clear; taking a sector wide approach is both beneficial for the companies involved and essential if we are to shift and decarbonise the entire sector, and more broadly, the UK economy. When the sector moves collaboratively, the wide scale cultural shift needed to influence not only the tier one organisations, but those across entire supply chains, has a far greater chance of success. One of the distinct benefits reflected upon by the panel to work towards this success, was that engagement with suppliers takes place more cohesively and at a quicker pace when organisations form a coalition under one set of targets, as opposed to asking supply chains to conform to multiple different initiatives, standards or targets. 

Some successes from the first year include:

• Training more than 500 retrofit co-ordinators, with associated business accreditation and including carbon literacy in professional qualifications
• Connecting 55,000 heat pumps by 4,100 trained & registered installers 
• Delivering a 33 per cent increase in EV charging points 

What can other sectors learn?

1. Isolate where the largest emissions are in your industry and use that as the starting point for setting a sector-wide plan to reduce emissions.

1. When implementing targets, set incremental goals to address the largest emissions in the sector with a mix of short term and long-term deliverables.

1. Work collaboratively with international and national coalitions like Construct Zero, and more broadly the UN’s Race to Zero campaign. 

Although the project is only one year in, looking to the future, the optimism of those on the panel was clear. In fact, in a climate where an energy and cost-of-living crisis and increasing insecurity could be framed as a reason to avoid investing in decarbonising, the panel had a word of caution to those considering delaying action. Instead, the advice was that board rooms across the country should equally measure the risks of not taking action. 

When looking at how best to do this, working in collaboration is not without challenges, but a problem shared is a problem halved  and the long-term benefits are clear in the minds of those companies who form Construct Zero. 

To find out more, or join Construct Zero email Stuart Young at [email protected] or see the Construct Zero website here.