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4 Stepping Stones to Sustainability for New Construction Firms

Posted on by dishanth
4 Stepping Stones to Sustainability for New Construction Firms

4 Stepping Stones to Sustainability for New Construction Firms

The construction industry has a well-deserved reputation for being an environmental polluter. It has gotten away with ungreen practices because the other sectors are just as dirty, if not more. However, climate change has made the world less tolerant of environmentally unsound organizations. Governments have joined the sustainability movement, so the writing is on the wall for maladaptive enterprises.

Many firms are slow to adopt greener practices, but the influx of startups can accelerate the sector’s sustainability transformation. New design-build firms, general contracting businesses, and subcontractors are better positioned to embrace eco-friendly initiatives.

The corporate culture is still a blank canvas, so start fresh with these four tips.

 

  1. Go Digital

Technological adoption and sustainability go hand in hand. Outdated methods and crude tools limit your ability to overcome your blind spots and find opportunities to operate more sustainably. Investing in digital technologies is necessary to address your pain points and streamline your processes.

Which innovations should you prioritize? There are numerous excellent candidates:

  • Mobile devices and messaging tools can harness cloud computing’s potential to promote remote resource access and foster interconnectedness. The interplay between these technologies will break down the usual communication barriers, making it easy to keep everybody on the same page.
  • Computer-aided design, building information modeling, and construction management programs streamline processes. They have unique functions but digitize data so you can review information more granularly. Analytics programs can reveal insights to solve problems that harm the environment, like surplus inventory and rework.
  • LiDAR and camera-equipped drones, wearable Internet of Things devices, and telematics systems can collect data on almost anything. They can help you precisely and accurately scan the landscape to minimize disturbance on existing ecosystems, quantify worker performance to identify and correct wasteful habits and keep tabs on equipment usage.
  • Bots automate tedious tasks, allowing you to conduct construction work more efficiently. Robotic arm 3D printers and bricklayers can help you complete projects faster and decrease material waste.

Construction has been slow to innovate primarily due to employee hesitance. Feeling intimidated by innovative solutions and receiving inadequate technical support are some of the usual baggage crews carry. Budget for training and continuous learning, as technologically savvy workers feel comfortable with innovations and can maximize their tools to run your business more sustainably.

 

  1. Be Circular

Circularity promotes using renewable, reclaimed or recycled materials, reusing or repurposing items, recovering salvageable materials, and designing structures with easily recoverable components. Such practices aim to leave the remaining virgin resources untouched because logging, mining and quarrying have considerable environmental consequences. These extraction methods destroy natural habitats, displace wildlife, eradicate biodiversity, pollute soil, water and air, and reduce natural carbon sinks.

Considering the planet’s finite resources, the construction industry has to switch from the linear to the circular model sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the sector will face crippling supply chain disruptions, which can result in project delays and loss of profits. How do you join the circular economy?

  • Buy reclaimed, recycled and repurposed construction supplies: Try doing so whenever you can to help conserve virgin resources.
  • Choose vendors carefully: Circular suppliers engaging in unethical practices practice greenwashing, not sustainability. Exercise due diligence to ensure your supply chain partners are as green as they claim to be to avoid enriching environmentally damaging businesses.
  • Select used equipment over new products: Purchasing pre-owned tools, machines and vehicles is sustainable because they’re already around. Ordering brand-new assets incentivizes manufacturers to build more products, potentially using newly extracted raw materials. Plus, pre-owned models save you money because used items cost less, less downtime is necessary for training and replacement parts are usually cheaper.
  • Put a premium on prefabrication: Prefab construction minimizes waste since it’s easier to control material usage when building components off-site in a factory-controlled environment. More importantly, construction modules lend themselves to deconstruction, simplifying dismantling and material recovery for reuse or resale.

 

  1. Emit Less

Decarbonize your operations at every turn. Switching from diesel to electric is one of the best ways to do so. Powering your assets with nothing but electricity eliminates air and noise pollution on-site.

Running on electricity doesn’t automatically translate to fewer greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023, fossil fuels produced 60% of the electricity generated in the United States. The nation’s power mix will be cleaner once green hydrogen becomes ubiquitous, so operating electric construction assets will be even more eco-friendly in the future.

If upgrading to electric equipment doesn’t make sense for you, adopting renewable diesel is the next best thing. This alternative fuel is chemically identical to fossil-derived diesel, so you can use it on your existing assets without modifying anything. Renewable diesel releases fewer climate change gasses because it burns cleaner.

Furthermore, localize your supply chain. Ships are responsible for 3% of all greenhouse gasses linked to human activities globally. Ordering materials from overseas will increase your construction firm’s carbon footprint, but transporting domestically sourced materials involves fewer emissions. It’s also logically simple because they cover less ground and avoid Customs and Border Protection. As a bonus, you enjoy shorter lead times.

Make it a mission to have a lean mindset. A lean construction philosophy aims to cut waste at every chance, minimizing idle time and redundant processes that drive up greenhouse gas emissions.

 

  1. Look Ahead

Sustainability isn’t an objective — it’s a purpose. It’s a never-ending pursuit, so always seek new ways to run your construction firm in an environmentally friendly way.

Lack of knowledge about emerging technologies is among the limiting factors in innovating. Curiosity is the antidote to ignorance, so keep up with the hottest trends in eco-building. Transparent wood, superabsorbent hydrogel, luminescent cement, 3D-printed soil structures, biodegradable polyurethane foam and plasma rock are some of the most promising innovations.

Most promising eco-friendly construction solutions take a lot of development before becoming ready for sale — and only a few ultimately gain mainstream acceptance. Although many ingenious ideas don’t pan out, be ahead of the curve. Use them to inspire regenerative and climate-resilient building designs that positively impact the environment for decades.

 

Take Small Steps Toward Sustainability

These four strategies only scratch the surface of what you do to be a force for good in the sector’s sustainability transformation. Strive to be more eco-friendly as you grow and you’ll establish a solid reputation as a green construction business.

 

 

 

 

Source   Happy Eco News 

Unilever certifies as a B Corp in Australia and New Zealand

Posted on by dishanth
Unilever certifies as a B Corp in Australia and New Zealand

The business announced the certification on Wednesday (24 August), confirming that it had passed its B Impact Assessment. The Assessment measures the positive impact an organisation has in five fields, namely environmental impact; interaction with workers; interaction with communities; impact on customers and good governance. Topics relating to both day-to-day operations and long-term plans and business models are taken into account.

edie has reached out to Unilever ANZ to request a copy of its B Impact Assessment. These are required to be made publicly available.

Around 460 businesses in Australia and New Zealand have certified as B Corps. Globally, a further 4,900+ have certified. Most of these are SMEs, as B Lab, the body overseeing B Corp certification, originally targeted its work in this field. It is yet to launch certification for large multinational businesses; this is in the pipeline.

“When businesses of the size and scale of Unilever Australia & New Zealand certify, it shows just how much the idea of business delivering positive impact on people and planet has grown,” said B Lab Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand’s chief executive Andrew Davies. “Their certification sends a powerful signal that will further advance change in the consumer goods sector, and our broader global economic system.”

 

Strategic approach

Unilever ANZ stated that the global company’s overarching corporate and sustainability strategy, The Compass, has proved “integral” to the identification and implementation of changes that have improved its B Impact Assessment score to the point of certification.

The Compass was launched in 2020 and is headlined by an overarching vision of becoming “the global leader in sustainable business”, ensuring that all parts of the business are “purpose-led” and “future-fit”.

On the environmental side of things, the Compass is supported Unilever’s Climate Transition Action Plan – its roadmap to reaching net-zero value chains by 2039 that has been backed by more than 99% of its shareholders. It also includes updated ambitions on issues including packaging and waste, gender equality, human rights and social inclusion.

Environmental actions already taken by Unilever ANZ under the compass include procuring 100% renewable electricity in operations; reaching zero-waste-to-landfill status for factories and piloting regenerative agriculture methods.

“We’re thrilled to achieve B Corp Certification, as both a validation of the actions we’ve implemented across Australia & New Zealand, and a motivator to strive even further,” said Unilever ANZ’s chief executive Nicky Sparshott, adding that he and his team are “already planning how we can turbocharge our positive impact”.

Sparshott added that the business will need to work collaboratively with suppliers, staff and communities to maintain its certification and encourage other businesses to follow suit. All B Corps are required to re-certify every three years.

The news will doubtless fuel the debate around which companies should be able to certify as B Corps. When Nespresso certified earlier this year, many SMEs which have been B Corps for years questioned whether a Nestle-owned entity, or a company sourcing coffee from regions facing systemic human rights issues, should be able to certify.

 

 

Source Edie

British energy transition ‘an opportunity to train 200,000 workers this decade’

Posted on by dishanth
British energy transition ‘an opportunity to train 200,000 workers this decade’

PwC’s research paper on jobs in the energy transition concludes that, by 2030, 270,000 skilled workers from the fossil fuel sectors will likely be leaving as the net-zero transition continues. At the same time, 400,000 jobs will be needed in low-carbon energy sectors including nuclear, renewables and hydrogen. With one-fifth of the fossil fuel leavers set to retire, there could be an overall gap of 200,000 skilled workers for the clean energy sectors.

This raises questions about whether the Government, public and private sectors have ambitious and joined-up enough plans to reskill and upskill the existing workforce and to grow the pipeline of fresh talent.

Under Boris Johnson, the Government created a Green Jobs Taskforce featuring representatives from businesses, trade bodies, education and NGOs. The Taskforce’s has published one major briefing with another due this year. However, no fully updated careers and/or skills strategy has been created.

The Government’s overarching ambition is for the UK to host two million green-collar jobs in 2030, up from around 208,000 in 2020. Shortly after the publication of the Net-Zero Strategy last October, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) warned that it only detailed the creation of a further 440,000 green jobs by 2030. The High Court has since ruled that the Strategy is unlawful as it does not properly detail how the UK will achieve its legally binding climate targets.

PwC’s head of regions Carl Sizer said: “The big challenge will be finding additional workers outside the energy sector to build the clean energy labourforce needed for net zero. The opportunity is to create highly skilled jobs in locations that may currently lack these.”

To his latter point, the energy transition may well present opportunities for the Government to deliver on its levelling up rhetoric, as distribution networks will need upgrading across the country and as small-scale nuclear and renewables grow.

Sizer also noted the opportunity to get more women, and others from demographics currently under-represented in the UK’s energy sector, trained up. One 2021 report from PwC found that women hold just 21% of executive positions in the energy sector and that. When positions at all levels are covered, less than 19% are estimated to be held by women. The sector is also lagging on ethnic diversity, with 93% of staff being white compared with 79-82% of the general population.

PwC is proposing the development of new energy apprenticeship programmes and technical training schemes that can be taken mid-career, along with targeted communications. The report states that “a range of interventions” should be considered to encourage under-represented demographics to consider energy jobs.

 

Allaying job loss fears

The paper emphasises that, while job losses in the coal sector are forthcoming, with the UK’s remaining plants needing to come offline by autumn 2024, job gains in other sectors will more than offset the reduction of jobs in the fossil fuel space.

PwC states that up to 90% of roles in oil, gas and coal are transferable, meaning that job losses this decade are likely to be minimal – particularly if the private sector increases efforts in upskilling as the transition plan mandate is rolled out. Net job gains are driven by the nuclear and offshore wind sector, which the Conservative Government have increased targets for through the recent Energy Security Strategy. The Strategy also increased targets for hydrogen, presenting another major reskilling and upskilling opportunity.

“While the shift to green energy is as significant as the industrial revolution, job loss should be far less this time round,” said PwC’s Sizer. “Rather than face an abrupt cliff edge, workers will see their roles become greener over time, many should be able to stay in the same company, while others will reach retirement age.”

Many firms, the report notes, are already advertising for jobs in functions and sectors that can reduce emissions. It states that 24.6% of job adverts in the electricity and gas sector were in these roles in 2021, up from 21.1% in 2020.

 

 

Source Edie

Carbon Innovation Fund: Co-op to allocate £3m to projects creating low-carbon food systems

Posted on by dishanth
Carbon Innovation Fund: Co-op to allocate £3m to projects creating low-carbon food systems

Announced today (23 November), the Carbon Innovation Fund will run for three years, offering £1m in grant funding annually to community environmental causes, social enterprises, charities, start-ups and collaborative projects working on solutions for a more sustainable food system.

Ten projects will be awarded each year by the Fund and each successful applicant will be entitled to a share of up to £100,000. Applicants will need to be UK-based but their projects could help decarbonisation at any point in the food system globally.

Co-op said in a statement that it will only support projects that contribute to “real systems change” for food. The company has also said the fund will support the preservation and dissemination of ancient and indigenous knowledge as well as supporting emerging technologies and processes.

“With the Carbon Innovation Fund, we’re looking to do something different; rather than ideas for individual commercial benefit, we want innovations that can be freely shared and can be of benefit to society in general,” said Co-op Food’s chief executive Jo Whitfield.

“It’s this type of co-operation that we believe we need to help accelerate our response to the climate crisis.”

The Fund is being provided with money allocated from the Co-op; the retailer allocates 2p from every £1 of sales to its charitable foundation. Applications are open until 12pm on Friday 10 December 2021.

Earlier this year, the Co-op Group built on a commitment to reach carbon neutrality for all own-brand food and drink by 2025 with a detailed 10-point climate action plan. The firm’s long-term climate goal is net-zero across all scopes, for all Group activities, by 2040.

Then, at COP26 in Glasgow this month, the retailer joined competitors Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose & Partners and Marks & Spencer in signing a new joint commitment to halve the nature and climate impacts of food systems by 2030. This initiative is being orchestrated by WWF.

The news on the Carbon Innovation Fund comes on the same week that John Lewis & Partners, in partnership with environmental charity Hubbub, launched a new £1m fund for innovative projects that help to reduce waste across the food, textiles and technology sectors.

 

 

Source Edie