TY - BOOK
T1 - Written evidence submitted by UK nominated national experts to IEA Annex 89 to the Environmental Audit Committee
T2 - Evidence submitted to enquiry on environmental sustainability and housing growth
AU - Giesekam, Jannik
AU - Moncaster, Alice
AU - Pomponi, Francesco
AU - Houlihan Wiberg, Aoife
AU - Bean, Justin
AU - Allen, Stephen
PY - 2025/1/25
Y1 - 2025/1/25
N2 - Summary The embodied carbon of buildings is responsible for around 9% of the UK’s total annual carbon footprint, comparable with operational carbon. The planned increase in construction activity will increase these emissions, unless there is robust intervention in planning policy and Building Regulations. Previous recommendations, by this Committee and by the CCC, have been to legislate for the mandatory measurement and progressive reduction of embodied carbon but these recommendations have not been enacted. The construction industry, and leading Local Planning Authorities, are aware of this issue and are asking for national regulation to provide certainty and a level playing field. While a lack of regulatory certainty persists in the UK, the economic opportunities from climate tech start-ups with assessment tools and low carbon material innovations are being lost to competing countries An increasing number of countries have already introduced embodied carbon reporting requirements and limits into regulation; the most recent cast of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will ensure that in the next few years this will be the case across Europe. We propose specific revisions to the NPPF to explicitly include embodied carbon as a consideration within planning, and recommend a range of supporting activities that MHCLG & DESNZ could undertake to restore the UK’s position as an international leader on this topic.
AB - Summary The embodied carbon of buildings is responsible for around 9% of the UK’s total annual carbon footprint, comparable with operational carbon. The planned increase in construction activity will increase these emissions, unless there is robust intervention in planning policy and Building Regulations. Previous recommendations, by this Committee and by the CCC, have been to legislate for the mandatory measurement and progressive reduction of embodied carbon but these recommendations have not been enacted. The construction industry, and leading Local Planning Authorities, are aware of this issue and are asking for national regulation to provide certainty and a level playing field. While a lack of regulatory certainty persists in the UK, the economic opportunities from climate tech start-ups with assessment tools and low carbon material innovations are being lost to competing countries An increasing number of countries have already introduced embodied carbon reporting requirements and limits into regulation; the most recent cast of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will ensure that in the next few years this will be the case across Europe. We propose specific revisions to the NPPF to explicitly include embodied carbon as a consideration within planning, and recommend a range of supporting activities that MHCLG & DESNZ could undertake to restore the UK’s position as an international leader on this topic.
UR - https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8638/environmental-sustainability-and-housing-growth/publications/written-evidence/?page=4
M3 - Book
BT - Written evidence submitted by UK nominated national experts to IEA Annex 89 to the Environmental Audit Committee
PB - UK Parliament POST
CY - London
ER -