Federations that go on to represent the landscape of Europe’s construction industry have gone on to unite behind a prominent new initiative that looks to deliver a carbon- as well as resource-neutral construction ecosystem across the continent with the support of the plans that are pledged by a senior EU policymaker.
Issued after the COP28 in Dubai, the manifesto of the sector goes on to identify the requirement for the construction sector to decouple its plans for progress from the ever-increasing usage of raw materials, the impact on the environment, as well as the business opportunities that come from making the shift to a circular business model, with the worldwide green economy estimated to be around $10.3 trillion by 2050.
At present, the construction industry happens to function a linear business model, which happens to be highly resource- and carbon-intensive. Raw materials get extracted from natural resources and thereafter processed to create secondary materials that are used in the construction of buildings as well as infrastructure, with that manufacturing process, thereby resulting in global transportation as well as further processing of materials, a large contributor to worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. In Europe, the construction sector happens to be responsible for over one-third of all waste across the EU, while buildings comprise around half of the EU’s raw material consumption as well as almost half of its total CO2 emissions.
Recognizing that the model practiced at present cannot continue, neither from an environmental nor an economic perspective, European International Contractors- EIC, European Construction Industry Federation- FIEC as well as the European Network of Construction Companies for Research and Development- ENCORD have gone on to identify actions and also made a series of commitments in the endeavor to affect the much-needed change.
Graham Robinson, who happens to be from Pinsent Masons, says that a wave of international climate as well as sustainability targets that are underpinned by new law as well as regulation and pressure from customers, financiers, shareholders, and activists is throttling the push when it comes to new net-zero infrastructure and buildings and also the adaptation of the existing built environment. The construction sector, in turn, is facing the requirement to change its practices in order to support this agenda.
There are certain companies that have already gone on to recognize that functioning resource-intensive linear business models isn’t compatible with the push towards net zero along with the wider sustainability goals; however, the change has yet to happen at the scale required to have a meaningful environmental effect. It is why the new manifesto happens to be so important, as it not only recognizes the current problem posed by the functioning linear business models; it also sets out crystal clear actions that are needed in order to affect the urgent transformation of the sector across six core areas ranging from people, financing, and energy to procurement, resources, and data, and thereby spells out the opportunities for growth when it comes to businesses that happen to invest in change, said Robinson.
He further added that the next step is for the sector to execute the actions and commitments that are made and for the EU policymakers to go on to play their role when it comes to supporting the shift. It is well to be noted that the execution would revolutionize industry practice.
Apparently, not all actions outlined within the manifesto can be accomplished by the industry. The federations went on to acknowledge that unprecedented partnership is compulsory to deliver carbon as well as resource neutrality, right from businesses involved in the design and construction of buildings as well as infrastructure, to those who go on to function as well as maintain such assets post-completion, and also from financiers and policymakers.
One of the areas that is identified within the manifesto as having the potential to act as a catalyst for change is procurement, with an action set out for the European Commission so as to update public procurement regulations in order to better incentivize construction firms to embrace circular business models.
Pinsent Masons’ Anne-Marie Friel, who happened to write the action plan for procurement in the manifesto, opined that the contractual structures as well as procurement models that look completely at the lowest price do not enable and incentivize the alteration in behaviors that are required to deliver the exact sustainability performance. The procurement model will need to support sustainability performance and, at the same time, enable the execution of an appropriate digital solution to enable forecasting and evaluation of carbon performance and also assist in ongoing tracking and reporting when it comes to the life of the asset.
In the manifesto’s foreword, the executive vice president of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, said that he fully goes on to support the call for local, regional, as well as national policymakers to make sure of public tendering processes that are more open when it comes to ecological innovations, circular business models, as well as life-cycle approach.
Taking care of a future that happens to be carbon neutral, circular, and at the same time respectful towards nature happens to be both a responsible and also a smart strategy for the industry. The European Commission happens to be fully committed to supporting the construction sector on this expedition, right from putting in place a clear as well as incentivizing regulatory framework to supporting in terms of research, innovation, and skills development, added Sefcovic.
Other actions that happen to be outlined in the manifesto, among other elements, are a series of initiatives aimed at upskilling the sector’s workforce, which includes building sustainability capacity at the management level.
It is well to be noted that the manifesto also sets goals in order to reduce the cost of sustainable finance as well as change accounting practices to ensure green outputs, which can actually be better measured, and also outlines the reporting role in sync with international standards like the sustainability disclosure standards, which were introduced by the International Sustainability Standards Board- ISSB earlier in 2023, in achieving those objectives.
Notably, the application in terms of energy-efficient construction processes along with logistics, the usage of renewable energy sources when it comes to developments, and consideration in terms of energy optimization throughout the whole lifecycle of buildings as well as infrastructure at the design phase of projects are certain other actions that have been rolled out.
When it comes to resources, the federations, besides other things, have said that there is indeed a need to embrace zero-waste targets across all operations, source sustainably created building materials as well as components, and at the same time promote the re-usage of secondary materials when it comes to eco-design strategies. The execution of a material passport so as to facilitate the evaluation of embedded carbon within buildings and infrastructure is also paid heed to, and they further asked for broader VAT exemptions when it comes to circularity.
In the manifesto’s joint foreword, the presidents of EIC, FIEC, as well as ENCORD, Benoît Chauvin, Philip Crampton, and Christina Claeson-Jonsson respectively, went on to acknowledge that while there happens to be a role for the European Commission as well as other stakeholders to guide the sector’s transformation, there also happens to be an onus on businesses themselves in order to deliver change that happens to be within their control.
The joint manifesto stated that they believe that contractors throughout the European construction sector should raise and speed up investments and, at the same time, take much wider responsibility along with leadership in terms of harnessing the skills and resources of the entire construction value chain, and that all the stakeholders must go on to restore the environment and also transform the economy.
