RC109 NovDec 2023 - Magazine - Page 28
CONSTRUCTION
“The fragmented nature of the construction materials supply
chain exacerbates the challenge of tracking and comparing the
embodied carbon of different materials.”
BUILDING THE FUTURE
The pursuit of net-zero construction
by Denyse van Opbergen
S CLIMATE CHANGE impacts intensify worldwide, it’s
abundantly clear: maintaining the status quo is a
luxury we can no longer a昀昀ord. The imperative to
drastically curtail global emissions has become a
non-negotiable reality. Within this challenge, the
infrastructure and buildings sector emerges as a
pivotal avenue to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. With $8 trillion in assets, construction accounts
for a staggering 18 per cent of the nation’s GHG emissions;
the stage is set for a paradigm shift that mitigates environmental damage while stimulating economic growth and
innovation.
In the landscape of service-based industries, the focus
on direct emissions (the emissions a purchasing entity has
full and direct control over) alone is not enough, as these
are relatively minor compared to emissions from upstream
and downstream activities. This is particularly true for
the buildings industry, where a holistic perspective that
considers every facet of a building’s life cycle is necessary;
from resource extraction for materials to construction, operation, eventual demolition, and even end-of-life disposal. As a building services company, EllisDon is working
on three focus areas to support decarbonization across
the industry: business operations (including construction
operations), material procurement, and the operational
performance of existing and new buildings.
A
Denyse van Opbergen is
senior manager, Climate
and Sustainability,
Sustainable Building
Solutions, with EllisDon.
28
Navigating carbon accountability in
construction operations
Within the complex realm of carbon accounting that
encompasses all industries, the construction sector stands
out as an arena marked by pronounced data gaps. Federal
regulations are yet to mandate tracking and reporting,
although a glint of promise emerges through the federal
government’s directive of emission disclosure for procurement contracts exceeding $25 million, with broader
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legislation anticipated in the future. Requirements for
companies to track and report on emissions, including
the generation of project-speci昀椀c data to evaluate carbon
intensity, will need to be straightforward and rigorous.
This journey will demand transparency, simplicity and
rigour in tracking and reporting, requiring a delicate
balance between the quality of the available industry data
and the expectations of the complexity of reporting to
come. Achieving this balance will hinge on collaborative
e昀昀orts across the industry to re昀椀ne these requirements in
harmony with evolving insights and data.
The pursuit of data transparency
EllisDon has invested in signi昀椀cant research to understand all sources of our emissions, how we can track
them, and ultimately, what can be done to reduce them.
This extends to both data within our immediate control and that of our project partners to improve our
processes and reduce emissions as we construct assets
for our clients. To push this forward, we have included
the requirement to track this information as part of our
standard subcontract language, which is now being adopted across the industry. Through partnerships with our
subcontractors in numerous pilot projects, we are starting
to better understand the emissions from what we build
(particularly on-site fuel consumption and the transportation of materials to and from construction sites) and our
subcontractors are starting to recognize that we need to
move forward together, even without regulatory clarity.
This pursuit of data transparency will allow us to 昀椀ll the
current data gap that exists within the industry as our
knowledge and awareness progresses.
For contractors to be able to reduce their operational
emissions, decarbonization of construction equipment
and processes is pivotal and we’ve seen a spectrum of alternatives to traditionally used equipment and processes
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