Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Conclusion 30
First report - Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction
Published 26 May 2022
Paragraph 166
Environmental Audit Committee Sustainability of the built environment All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
There is availability of low-carbon and recycled building products to meet current demand, however there are insufficient incentives for product manufacturers to develop new low-carbon materials and for developers and designers to use these products. The Government has invested in initiatives and programmes, set out in the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, to encourage the development and use of low-carbon materials. This is welcome; but as there is no requirement to conduct whole-life carbon assessments of building projects, there remain limited incentives to reduce the embodied carbon of building projects and thus develop and use low- carbon materials.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, First report - Building to net zero: costing carbon in construction (HC 103), paragraph 166, 26 May 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 30 September 2022 (deadline 26 July 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees that whole-life carbon assessments are "likely to have a significant role" in decarbonising construction, but it does not commit to mandating them and says it will consult on its approach to embodied carbon in 2023.
- On a mandatory requirement, it "intends to consult in 2023" and will "consider" what levers, including building regulations, will be needed. It says it is "too soon to commit" to ratcheted carbon targets.
- It agrees a standardised calculation method is required and "will look at whether" endorsing specific standards, methodologies or tools "is appropriate".
- It declines to bring forward the Future Homes Standard to 2023, stating it "will not look to alter the timeframe" and that the 2025 timeline delivers on net zero commitments while ensuring homes are delivered in sufficient numbers.
- On public procurement, it says the Procurement Bill would not be an appropriate place for net zero policy priorities, and that there are "no plans to collect and publish" data on whole-life carbon assessments under the Construction Playbook.