After a lead up to COP 26 beset by a feeling of low expectations, a number of high profile agreements, pledges and targets announced in the first two days seem to have lifted the mood. At Focus, we are keeping a close eye on announcements made that have implications for the construction industry and particularly those that will assist in aligning the industry with the 1.5 ⁰C ambition of the Paris Agreement and the national 2050 net-zero carbon target. This briefing provides a summary of announcements made so far that may have implications for our industry.

The major announcement to come out of day one of COP 26 was the pledge from over 100 nations to end deforestation and land degradation by 2030. Although a number of South American nations are absent from the signatories, most notably Brazil, the pledge still covers 85% of global forests. This was supplemented on day two by the Global Forest Finance Pledge which has so far seen 12 nations and a number of private companies commit to providing a total of $12 billion for protection and restoration of existing forests. A portion of this funding will go towards the sustainable management of forests but it is incumbent upon the construction industry to ensure timber procurement is of sustainably managed forests. There is currently a push for greater use of timber in buildings to assist in meeting the NZC target, however this ambition would do more harm than good if the timber were to be derived from unsustainable forestry practices.

Day two saw a focus on energy generation. In the UK, there has been a rapid decarbonisation of our electricity supply which has been instrumental in reducing emissions of our buildings. However, the same cannot be said for developing countries where, without intervention, increasing energy demand is likely to met through fossil fuel technologies. The purpose of the announced Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet is to invest $100 billion in renewable energy sources within developing countries to ensure that their economic growth can occur without simultaneous increases in greenhouse gas emissions.

Day two also saw a number of commitments made to ensure the decarbonisation of specific industries by scaling up existing cleaner technologies and rapidly developing emerging technologies. The commitments were particularly aimed at industries that are hard to decarbonise such as transport and agriculture. Pertinent to our sector is that the steel manufacturing industry was also included in the so-called ‘Breakthrough Agenda’. Steel, and especially lightweight steel framing, is seeing a rapid increase in use across the UK construction sector due to perceived benefits such as speed of build, low cost and high recyclability. However, much of the world’s steel manufacturing capacity is heavily reliant on fossil fuels and will continue to do so without significant investment in alternatives. This Agenda aims to decarbonise the manufacturing process across the world which would, in turn, reduce embodied emissions associated with construction. This is of increasingly high importance as the scale of embodied emissions within our industry are realised.

Current headlines from the 8th November

• One of the top goals of the summit is an agreement to phase out the use of coal. Day 4 saw over 40 countries, so far, sign The Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement agreeing to measures, including a stop to finance and investment in the coal industry, that will result in the end of coal as a power source from major economies by 2030 and from the rest of the world by 2040. There are still some gaps in the agreement in that major emitters such as India, China and the US have not yet signed and is not legally binding and so the concern is that it is not enough to reach net zero by 2050.
• A mandate has been introduced for all large businesses and public enterprises to develop net zero transition plans by the end of 2024, and by 2023 for high emitting sectors. Although it increases transparency and accountability the concern is that commitments are not mandatory which leads on to a recurring issue of greenwashing that is being addressed with a new Gold-Standard verification scheme with support from The International Sustainability Standards Board which was launched to assist this transition.
• The agreement to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 is currently backed by 100 out of 195 UN member states, but there are concerns that this doesn’t address emissions at the required scale or speed especially as it is responsible for around a third of human-made global warming and is an easier and perhaps quicker issue to address compared to reducing carbon dioxide levels.

After a raft of new targets and pledges emerged in the opening days of COP 26, the flow of headline announcements slowed somewhat as national leaders left the conference and a series of issue focussed days began, including topics such as nature, transport, finance and adaptation. The 11^th November saw a day of negotiations and announcements surrounding the built environment. As you might expect, we were attentive to the day’s proceedings which started with our speculation of whether there might be news regarding upcoming changes to Part L of Building Regulations and the BRE’s new BREEAM New Construction scheme. As it transpired, no such news emerged but we did tune in for the long anticipated release of the UKGBC’s roadmap to net-zero carbon. A separate article will be published to explore this in more detail but the roadmap suggests net-zero is possible in the built environment by 2050 but only with immediate and urgent action. This starts with a nation-wide retrofitting programme of existing homes which would need to begin at scale as soon as possible. It also calls for the urgent tightening of standards for new builds and, crucially, recognises the importance of embodied carbon to total whole life cycle emissions  by calling for its regulation.

We now eagerly await the release of the final COP 26 agreement which must ensure the 1.5 degree ambition of the Paris Agreement is sufficiently supported, both in promises and actions.