(North Norfolk) (Con)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require the whole-life
carbon emissions of buildings to be reported; to set limits on
embodied carbon emissions in the construction of buildings; and
for connected purposes.
This will be known as the part Z regulation.
This country has a long, proud history of creating buildings and
infrastructure that have enabled Britain to develop and evolve at
a rate envied by the rest of the world, but we should reflect on
the fact that during that time it is not just Britain that has
developed and evolved, but construction itself. Indeed,
construction has come a long way since the industrial revolution
caused our towns, infrastructure and industry to burgeon. Back
then, it was an industry based on judgment, precedent and trial
and error, whereas in modern Britain construction is as much an
art and a science, led by our engineers and builders, who are
world-renowned for their expertise and experience. However,
climate change means that it is time for construction to evolve
again: as we go about ensuring the UK’s role as a global leader
in decarbonisation we must discuss the decarbonising of
construction.
Every year, our buildings and construction are responsible for
the emission of 150 million tonnes of carbon—greenhouse
gases—which is nearly a quarter of our country’s total carbon
footprint. Two thirds of those emissions—yes, the majority—are
due to the lighting, power, water, heating and cooling of
buildings, or what we call operational carbon, and I am proud
that this Government have taken bold steps to ensure that those
emissions will reduce as part of our net zero strategy. By 2025
all new homes will be installing low-carbon alternatives to gas
boilers, for instance, and by 2035 this country will have
decarbonised the electricity network completely. As such, by 2035
we can expect that the emissions related to those services will
have fallen to an almost negligible amount. Fantastic! However,
that leaves a big piece of the pie—the other third. Where do
those remaining emissions come from, and what plan do we have to
deal with them?
The other third comes from construction itself, and it is
responsible for 40 million to 50 million tonnes of greenhouse gas
emissions each year. For perspective, that is more than the
entirety of the UK’s aviation plus shipping. Those 50 million
tonnes of carbon emissions are due to the construction, upkeep,
refurbishment and demolition of new and existing buildings and
infrastructure. Collectively, that is known as embodied carbon,
so called because the materials that we build are the physical
embodiment of such greenhouse gas emissions. Most embodied carbon
emissions are in the construction of the building itself. For a
typical new build constructed today, embodied carbon accounts for
half the total emissions that the building will be responsible
for over its entire lifetime. In some buildings, that same amount
is released before the building is even occupied.
Currently, those embodied carbon emissions are completely
unregulated. The law places no restriction whatsoever on how much
embodied carbon can be emitted when we construct a building. In
fact, the 50 million tonnes of carbon due to construction have
hardly changed for years—perhaps only altering slightly during a
recession. Now, I am not a builder or a developer, but if I was
and I desired to build a building that was gratuitously tall or
complicated and I said to my architect, “Put as much concrete as
you like into the floor slabs”—subject to planning permission, of
course—that would be my choice, and there would be no accounting
for the carbon impact of those decisions. We are in the middle of
a climate emergency, and yet the embodied carbon of our buildings
and infrastructure is completely unregulated—there is no
requirement by law to do anything about that 50 million tonnes of
carbon.
Let us be clear: that is not to say that no one in the
construction industry is looking at how to reduce embodied
carbon—far from it. I will come back to that in just a moment.
However, the regulation and legislation is not there to support
such efforts. We are decarbonising our electricity grid and
ending our reliance on fossil fuels, but we are leaving ourselves
open to a big concrete and steel elephant in the room.
The Climate Change Committee has been advising for four years
that embodied carbon needs regulating. During the Environmental
Audit Committee’s inquiry into the sustainability of the built
environment—I am a part of that inquiry, and I see many Committee
colleagues present—the regulation of embodied carbon has come up
again and again. Meanwhile, our friends around the world in the
Netherlands, Sweden, France, Denmark, Finland, the USA and New
Zealand are either moving towards introducing embodied carbon
regulation or have already done so. The recent net zero strategy
set out the Government’s intention to support action in the
construction sector by improving reporting on embodied carbon in
buildings and infrastructure with a view to exploring a maximum
level for new builds in the future, so the ambition is clearly
there.
Unlike some of those other countries, which had to create
standards to implement embodied carbon regulation, we already
have the tools to do it. We have standards and guidance that
cover the assessment of carbon emissions for construction: they
have been in use in the industry for nearly five years on a
voluntary basis and are seen across more and more construction
sites in the UK. So we have the tools; now we need the leadership
and the regulation to bring an extra level of clarity and make
low carbon a requirement in all construction projects around the
UK.
I understand that that cannot happen overnight. Parts of the
industry still need to upskill their teams and incorporate
existing guidance into their standard ways of working. However,
at an appropriate pace, with clear direction and agreed
implementation dates from this Government, embodied carbon
regulation can unlock the creative potential of our construction
industry. We can see now that embodied carbon regulation is
needed; we can see that it is aligned with the Government’s
aspirations and we understand that we have all the tools we need
to get it done.
Finally, let us talk about the impact it will have on our
workforce. What about our engineers, architects, planners and
builders? Will they have to change how they design and build the
places we call home, the buildings we meet in and the
infrastructure that ties us all together? Is such regulation
compatible with the industry, and is our industry ready for it?
The answer is yes. The industry wants to play its role in
fighting climate change—it is calling for it quite loudly
now.
In the summer of last year, the construction industry took the
proactive move of responding to the Climate Change Committee’s
suggestion on its own and producing a proposed building
regulation under the name “Part Z”. “Part Z” was drafted by
industry experts and shared for comments across the industry. The
response was staggering: 120 of the country’s leading developers,
clients, contractors, architects, engineers and institutions
writing statements calling for the regulation of embodied
carbon.
This country’s history is intertwined with the evolution of
construction—Robert Stephenson, the Shard, the Gherkin, the
channel tunnel, the Forth bridge, even the Palace of Westminster
we stand in today—but it is time for construction to evolve
again. We can build more sustainably, we can build out of
beautiful natural materials, we can retrofit and we can pay
attention to all those issues. It is time to stop putting
embodied carbon off as a possible future area to explore. It is
time now to regulate embodied carbon.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That , , , , , Sir , , , , , and present the Bill.
accordingly presented the
Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 18
March, and to be printed (Bill 246).
