Supply Chain Decarbonisation

Workstream Overview

The built environment is responsible for 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and to rapidly decarbonise the industry must mobilise towards this common goal. At the core of any industry’s activity are complex supply chains that necessitate collaborative work to gain the clarity, agreement and support needed for climate action. For most built environment organisations, emissions within their supply chain make up the largest proportion of their carbon footprint, so simply addressing one’s own, direct emissions is not sufficient. To address this challenge, UKGBC is working with industry experts to establish an ongoing workstream that will bring cross-sector collaboration to overcome some of the barriers and challenges facing supply chains.

P r o j e c t S c o p e

Project Scope

Following a 6 month scoping exercise, with our programme partners, membership, and the industry as a whole, the team have identified and highlighted six topic areas on which to focus and where UKGBC can drive change and impact. These are:

Procurement

Supporting procurement teams in sourcing low carbon materials

Data

Improving the processes and standardisation of tracking and reporting data

Low carbon materials

Testing, proving, and supporting the increased use of low carbon materials

Supplier and SME engagement

Working with stakeholders across the supply chain

Cost

Tackling the upfront cost due to any changes in practice

Knowledge and skills

Increasing the knowledge and skills required to deliver a low carbon industry

In year 1 of the Supply Chain Decarbonisation workstream we are focusing on Procurement and on Supplier and SME engagement.

Our Supply Chain Decarbonisation Task Group is now up and running.

We have invited and convened supply chain professionals and experts from across our membership. We have also sought and continue to seek the input of those outside the organisation with particular expertise to contribute to our task group activity.

Our task group is meeting regularly and working hard to complete a number of tasks. These include stakeholder mapping to understand the complexities and key relationships within the generic supply chain.

In this first year of workstream activity, as outlined above, we are focusing on the key topics of procurement and supplier and SME engagement. The group are also looking to identify the key challenges and the actions that can be taken to address those challenges and to drive decarbonisation in these areas.

Project Partners

In addition to the support of our programme partners in Advancing Net Zero, we would also like to acknowledge the support of our project partners:

Knight Frank Promise
Winvic
Wates

Thank you all for enabling our Supply Chain Decarbonisation work to take place.

Questions?

For all the latest UKGBC updates on net zero buildings, please visit the Advancing Net Zero homepage or email us with any queries or comments at ANZ@ukgbc.org.