Royal BAM Group's Carbon Commitments

BAM carboncommitments

Royal BAM Group, a leading European construction company, haslong since committed to reducing its impact on climate change. This recently tooka leap forward with our commitment to halve emissions by 2030, a target thathas been approved by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This targetaligns with the global effort required to limit global temperature rises to nomore than 2C.

We have committed to reducing the CO2 intensityof our operations by 50 percent in 2030 compared to 2015. This builds on our currenttarget to achieve a 25 percent reduction by the end of 2020. We will achieve this through energyefficiency measures, avoiding fuel-driven generators by ensuring early gridconnection on projects and de-carbonising our vehicle fleet. Furthermore, we havecommitted to purchase 100 percent of electricity from renewable sources.

In addition to direct emissions (Scope 1 and 2), companieswith significant indirect impacts (Scope 3) must also address these. For BAM, thismeans tackling the carbon impacts held within our supply chain.

Concrete and steel

For a long time BAM has had its sights on quantifying theScope 3 carbon impact of the work we do. In 2016 we engaged the Carbon Trust toundertake analysis based on spend, which was repeated in 2017. The emissionsfrom purchased goods is nearly 20 times as much as our Scope 1 and 2 emissions.

This was not unexpected, but it really helped to highlightthe scale of the challenge (see chart). BAMhas committed to reducing absolute Scope 3 GHG emissions by 20 percent by 2030from a 2017 base-year. The main focus will be to firstly collect more detailedinformation about the carbon impact of our purchases and then to drive outcarbon from key sources such as concrete and steel (two of the maincontributors to the Scope 3 footprint).

Supply chain impact

BAM already undertakes many activities to reduce supplychain impact within each individual project. An example is using the Carbon Performance Ladder in the Netherlands, whichrequires our suppliers to report their emissions and set targets to reduce them.

BAM is also increasingly carrying out life cycle analysis onprojects to reduce mbodiedcarbon and opting to work with suppliers that candemonstrate they have lower carbon products. Collaboration plays a key part inthis. In the UK we are working with the UK Green Building Council to providemore guidance around efficient and zero carbon buildings. This includes therecent publication of Net zero carbonbuildings: A framework definition part of the World Green Building Councilinitiative. This is the first step on the journey to net zero carbon buildingsin operation by 2050.

Collaboration with clients

The key to delivering a lower carbon construction project isto engage with clients early in the project. We ask clients to carefully consider specifications with a view to reducenegative environmental impact during construction. This is through a processoriginally developed by WRAP, called designing out waste workshops, now hosted onthe ResourceEfficient Scotland website. These workshops aim to ensure that the projectcan be constructed in the most efficient way, primarily eliminating waste,however there are key considerations about aspects like off-site construction,low carbon materials and transport impacts, which all relate to carbonreduction.

The SBTi, isn nother badgefor BAM, although itcertainly provides a benchmark within the industry. BAM has a strategicobjective to have a net positive impact by 2050 and is one of the firstcompanies in the construction industry with validated science-based targets. Our website contains moreinformation about our sustainability initiatives.

Jesse Putzel, Head of Sustainability, BAM Construct UK

Please note: the views expressed in this blog are those of theindividual contributing member, and are not necessarily representative of theviews of IEMA or any professional institutions with which IEMA is associated

Clare Topping

Energy and Sustainability Manager, Northampton General Hospital

Clare is the Energy and Sustainability Manager at Northampton General Hospital.