Speaking at the virtual Business 7 Summit (or ‘B7’), which welcomes around 60 CEO’s from leading UK and global companies across the G7 countries, and feeds into the G7 Summit programme, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, recognised the construction industry’s contribution to achieving Net Zero.
In remarks to the concluding session, which aimed to identify how government and business can work together to address global challenges in climate, digital and health, the Secretary of State set out his priorities and views on business leadership, highlighting that over 58 UK construction businesses have already signed-up to Race to Zero, including firms such as Lendlease and Multiplex.
The Secretary of State also highlighted the UK’s leading consultancy businesses working in the built environment, who have today collectively committed to offering ambitious design options and advice that are fully compatible with Net Zero outcomes to their clients. This means that the expert advice received by financiers, asset owners and operators will now be encouraging, and actively driving towards, ambitious Net Zero choices.
These firms are respected around the globe for their expertise and include AECOM, Arcadis, Arup, Atkins, Buro Happold, Jacobs, Mott MacDonald, Mace, Turner & Townsend and WSP.
Kwasi Kwarteng said: “The UK’s construction and engineering industries are leading the world in the drive to cut emissions, and I am thrilled to see so many businesses from all over the globe share this ambition.
“As we build back better, the commitments made at this summit will support the construction industry to make this essential low carbon transition and I look forward to working closely with the sector and the Construction Leadership Council on this journey.”
Hannah Vickers, Chief Executive of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) and CO2nstructZero Lead at the CLC said: “I’m delighted to see ACE members among those demonstrating the leadership required if our industry is to play its part in helping society to meet its ambitious Net Zero targets.
“The UK’s leading global consultancy businesses are well advanced in achieving Net Zero on their direct emissions. In order to deliver significant reductions to society’s carbon emissions, these firms are now also committing to proactively shaping their clients’ decisions and approach. This means that more projects will start out with Net Zero at their core, delivering a positive knock-on effect along the entire construction supply chain.”
Alan Belfield, Global Chair of the Arup group, commented: “Arup is very much part of the Race to Zero and is fully committed to becoming a Net Zero firm by 2030. We also recognise that we can achieve so much more by working with partners and clients across the built environment supply chain. That is why we are working with our own clients in finance, business and government to shape the transition strategies we need, as well as collaborating with organisations such as the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to shape the policies and programmes that will drive rapid progress around the globe.
“No single government or group is going to be able to meet the climate change challenge, but everyone can play their part — and the construction sector can achieve more than most.”
Richard Robinson CEO, Atkins UK and Europe, said: “Atkins has a proud history of working with clients to reduce carbon and build climate resilient infrastructure. As we look ahead to the significant challenge of achieving net zero. The engineering consulting sector has a crucial role to play both to identify practical pathways towards the goal and to provide the best innovation and the most efficient delivery to ensure we get there.”
Sarah Prichard, UK Managing Director, Buro Happold, added: “Buro Happold has recognised the need to help lead in the engineering response to Net Zero and the Climate Emergency, as we work to create a sustainable and equitable future for people, places and planet. Working with the CLC on the CO2nstructZero campaign will enable us to achieve this collaboratively across the industry.
“Buro Happold are committed to measuring embodied and operational carbon on all projects we design, both new-build and retrofit. We have created in-house building performance dashboards to allow us to report on modelled and measured carbon and have ambitious targets around driving down in use and embodied carbon in our work over the next 10 years. In regularly reporting and holding ourselves accountable to our people and the wider industry as we strive to achieve these, we hope to inspire other organisations to join us on this journey.”
Recently Lendlease agreed to partner with the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) on its Advancing Net Zero climate action programme. You can find out more about that here: https://labmonline.co.uk/news/lendlease-accelerates-a-net-zero-built-environment-through-worldgbc-partnership/
