UK needs industry wide carbon target for infrastructure, claims Green Building Council report

The UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) has published a report entitled ‘Delivering Low Carbon Infrastructure’, which recommends the establishment of a whole life carbon target for the infrastructure industry. The report’s  main findings are: There is no specific target for the infrastructure industry which organisations and projects can work towards; There is little similarity in ambition, duration and scope of the targets being set in the infrastructure industry; There is no single method used by all the surveyed clients to set their carbon targets; Regulators play a role in addressing carbon, however, they are not explicit in setting targets for carbon reductions and driving performance. Based on the findings, UK-GBC is recommending the establishment of a whole life carbon target for the infrastructure industry based on climate science and from which organisations can derive commensurate targets. The monitoring of such a target, and the reporting of progress against it, will be crucial.

The report was produced with support from Atkins, CEEQUAL, Ferrovial Agroman, Osborne, Skanska and Responsible Solutions, and has been endorsed by the influential ICE Infrastructure Client Group. The group, which is chaired by Tideway CEO Andy Mitchell CBE, features C-suite level representation from the biggest infrastructure client organisations in the UK. Informed by client interviews and desktop research, the report