Pledge to Net Zero, an environmental sector programme to facilitate action on greenhouse gas emissions, has published (on 23 September) a resource detailing practical ways for environmental and engineering professionals to estimate greenhouse gases in their designs and advice.
Currently, the designs and advice provided by the environmental and engineering sectors represent the largest greenhouse gas impact of the sector. In fact, the UN Environment Programme reported that the buildings and construction sector account for 37% of emissions globally. However, these emissions are not effectively included in current Science Based Targets because they fall outside the boundaries of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for Scope 3 emissions.
The paper aims to fill this gap, ensuring that effective action is taken in support of the report, titled “CATALYSING CLIMATE ACTION: The role of professional service providers in realising a net-zero future”. Three methods that firms can use to estimate the greenhouse gas impact of their work are discussed in the paper, each with various levels of detail and purposes.
The first, ‘Fast Assessment based on Fee’ helps classify the percentage of fees earned in a year that support, are neutral, or work against a net-zero transition.
The second, ‘Project Portfolio Estimate based on Fee / Design activity’ estimates total carbon emissions from a project and allocates them to project teams based on their role and involvement.
The third and final, ‘Attribution based on Project Whole Life Carbon’ conducts a detailed project assessment and allocates whole-life greenhouse gas emissions across all parties and stages of project delivery based on the extent of influence.
The approaches are provided in draft for comment and all firms are welcome to provide feedback and suggestions to improve these over the coming months.
David Symons, Chair of Pledge to Net Zero and Future Ready global lead at WSP, said: “It’s excellent to now have some practical guidelines and methods to help our industry estimate the carbon impact of our work. So much of our industry’s work supports climate action, but not all. This paper for the first time sets out some practical ways to estimate this, in a similar way that we measure our corporate carbon footprint. It represents real progress and I look forward to seeing our industry’s feedback on this work.”
Ramiro Fernandez, Campaigns Director, Climate Champions Team, said: “It’s excellent to see professional services sectors stepping up to take fast action on embedding climate action in their advice. I welcome this paper from Pledge To Net Zero and commend the environment and engineering sectors for being a leader in supporting Race To Zero’s work.
Lewis Barlow, ICE Trustee for Carbon and Climate, said: “This practical approach to estimating the carbon impact of our designs and advice is a significant step forward for our industry’s commitment to sustainability. The initiative aligns with the Institution of Civil Engineer’s mission to foster sustainable and resilient infrastructure and promote whole life decarbonisation best practice, notably the use of PAS 2080: Carbon Management in Buildings and Infrastructure. I encourage all professionals in our field to adopt and provide feedback on these guidelines.”
Ida Namur, Vice President and ScopeX global lead at AECOM said: “Industry collaboration is critical in the effort to reach a net zero economy by 2050. This paper represents a significant step towards a unified approach to estimating the carbon emissions resulting from the work we deliver. By advancing this work collectively, we will better serve our clients and the communities where we work. We look forward to expanding the engagement with others in the industry to accelerate action on carbon reduction.”
Chloë Fiddy, Policy and Engagement Lead – Climate and Energy at IEMA said: “Many IEMA members work within the environment and engineering sectors and have made public commitments to reduce the carbon impacts of the advice and designs that they provide to their clients. IEMA is proud to be one of the contributors on this guide, as it provides an easy-to-follow method and worked examples for estimating the emissions associated with their services, and will help support these organisations (and their clients) to reach their decarbonisation goals.”
Nigel Tonks, building decarbonisation expert at Arup, said: “Advice from our sector to governments and businesses has huge potential for positive impact in reducing the world’s carbon emissions – but you can’t manage what you don’t measure.
“This joint industry effort to look at the impact of all our advice is another key step to reducing our impact on the climate. It is the first step towards consistency in measurement of carbon, which is vital if we are to meet the Paris Agreement goal to hold global average temperature rises under 1.5°C.”
You can download the paper here: Reports | Pledge to Net Zero OR view the PDF here.
