Construction industry leaders call on new Labour Government to introduce embodied carbon regulation


 

Part Z

 

 

An industry-proposed amendment to
UK Building Regulations 2010


 

Industry support for the regulation of embodied carbon

abrdn Investments

abrdn Investments are supportive of the regulation of embodied carbon […] we believe that the requirements to report whole life carbon, and set informed limits on embodied carbon, would help the real estate sector to decarbonise.”

Dan Grandage

Head of ESG, Private Markets

Royal London Asset Management

“Royal London Asset Management endorses the concept of regulation that mandates the reporting of – and sets limits on – embodied carbon emissions in the built environment. Such regulations [will help] ensure everyone plays by the same ‘sustainability’ rules.”

Tim Coffin

Responsible Property Investment Manager

 

Landsec

“Landsec […] fully supports these assessments becoming a legal requirement as part of Building Regulations. This is to ensure that the whole impact of a building is accounted for and we have clear and measurable ways of achieving the emissions reductions needed to get to net zero.”

Jennie Colville

Head of Sustainability

Lendlease

“[…] unless we start to regulate the use of [materials in buildings] in terms of the embodied carbon impact we are missing the proverbial elephant in the room.”

Paul King

Managing Director of Sustainability and Social Impact - Europe

 

Morgan Sindall Group

“Morgan Sindall are broadly supportive of the principles of Building Regulations Part Z to measure and limit embodied carbon. [It] should lead to year-on-year reductions in embodied carbon by encouraging greater innovation and transparency of product emissions in the supply chain.”

Graham Edgell

Director of Sustainability & Procurement

Laing O’Rourke

“Reducing GHG emissions from the built environment requires urgent action from many parties, including non-industry players. That’s why we welcome Part Z – [it] would increase the entire sector’s focus on ways to accelerate and make the progress required.”

Vicky Bullivant

Global Head of Sustainability

 

These statements are in support of the principle of embodied carbon regulation, and not necessarily the contents of Proposed Document Z, which is presented on this website as a proof of concept.


 

Proposal

Due to the significant contribution that the embodied carbon of buildings makes to the climate emergency, there is a need to introduce legislation towards mandatory reporting of carbon emissions in the built environment, along with limiting embodied carbon emissions on projects.  

We have written Part Z and its accompanying Proposed Document Z as a proof of concept of the regulation that’s needed in the UK. If enacted, Part Z would ensure that embodied carbon is assessed on all projects, as part of a comprehensive whole life carbon assessment.

It would also ensure that the embodied carbon emissions are then capped on all major construction projects - initially through limits on upfront embodied carbon, but over time expanding to cover all aspects of embodied carbon.

Proposed Document Z is aligned with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Professional Statement ‘Whole life carbon assessment for the built environment’, and guidance and recommendations made by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) and the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI).

We have shared this proposal online with the intention of gaining support from industry leaders for the regulation of embodied carbon. Keep scrolling down to show your support.

 

Blog

Click here to read progress updates and thought-leadership around embodied carbon regulation in construction.

Authors

We lead decarbonisation initiatives and publications across the built environment.

Support

We are seeking statements of support from industry leaders for the regulation of carbon emissions. If you would like to support the Part Z campaign or subscribe to regular updates, please follow the relevant link below.