Jane Embury looks at the shared imperative of reducing carbon emissions
Reducing and eliminating carbon emissions is a core government policy. Its aim is to achieve net zero carbon by 2050.
The government also recently announced £4 billion in green investment, creating up to a quarter of a million new green jobs.
The investment is to develop industries such as renewable energy, and carbon capture and storage technology.
The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) welcomed this commitment to a greener, fairer and more resilient economic recovery from Covid-19.
Now, a new industry programme has been set up to address carbon emissions from every stage in the construction sector.
It’s led by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and is called CO2nstruct Zero.
COP26
The initiative comes ahead of the UK hosting the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow in November.
The CLC hopes that CO2nstruct Zero will continue the construction industry’s united response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programme’s priorities cover transport, buildings, and construction activity. That covers everything from modern methods of construction to improved building energy efficiency.
The programme has the ambitious aim for the UK to become world leaders in designing out carbon, and developing designs in line with a circular economy.
The CLC hopes that companies and organisations will support the CO2nstruct Zero programme and become involved.
An action plan is being prepared, co-ordinating the work already underway by the CLC and others. These include the Green Construction Board and the Infrastructure Client Group.
It’s an initiative we support because the issue of climate change is now a global emergency. All of us – companies, organisations and individuals – have a role to play.
Glazing systems
In a sense, Wrightstyle is already playing our part because our interior and exterior advanced glazing systems are primarily made from steel and glass.
Glass is, of course, a sustainable and completely recyclable material. Not only that, but it can save energy – either as insulation, or to generate electricity by incorporating photovoltaic cells. It is also resource efficient, being made from abundant raw materials (sand, limestone and soda ash).
Steel can also be infinitely recycled without loss of quality. Indeed, steel scrap of lower value can be converted into high value steel with appropriate processing.
That’s not to say that we are complacent about our carbon footprint. We’re not, and consistently review our processes to see where carbon emissions can be further cut.
Like any right-minded company, we too want to see Wrightstyle as a net zero carbon company. After all, we only have one planet to live on, and it’s up to all of us to look after it.
