Is our Carbon Wallet Empty?
Summary
The embodied carbon of the National Infrastructure Pipeline
This report highlights the challenges the infrastructure sector faces in addressing the UK’s net-zero carbon commitment by 2050. Included is a manifesto for change, which will enable the infrastructure sector to measure, control and reduce carbon emissions.
The report is calling for urgent change in industry now to address the growing impact of carbon emissions on our planet. This report focuses on embodied carbon infrastructure projects. The urgency to change is that once the project is built, part of the wholelife carbon budget is spent. This can’t be undone, and at the moment at our current rate of spend our carbon wallet will be empty before we know it.
The Net-Zero Infrastructure Industry Coalition harnesses the collective expertise of those who deliver and operate infrastructure at scale to work with the UK Government to determine how to build infrastructure needed to achieve net-zero.
The Coalition believes that net-zero must become an industry-wide mission. This report provides a thorough audit of the existing embodied carbon measurement in the infrastructure pipeline, making recommendations on actions needed to make net-zero carbon emissions a reality. The potential systemic role of national infrastructure in catalysing the level of societal transformation required for a net[1]zero global economy cannot be overstated.