The Committee on Climate Change has calculated that for the UK to hit its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the construction industry has to largely decarbonise by 2040. As we strive to achieve this, there are valuable lessons to be learned from our neighbours in Europe, which is aiming to halve emissions from its construction and civil engineering sector by 2030. Taking Sweden as an example – the Swedish Transport Administration, which is the largest procurer of construction work in Sweden, has already put in place clear procurement guidelines that are steering industry in a cohesive direction. 

“Halving the carbon footprint from construction is possible today,” explains Maria Brogren, who leads on sustainability and innovation for WSP Sweden. “On a recent project designing a concrete bridge, we showed how – through factors such as using an optimised design and the right concrete recipe – we could cut the project’s carbon footprint by 48%. Conversely, we also showed that poor decision-making could increase the footprint by 57%. So, it’s vital to have the right skills in place.”

Cutting the remaining half of emissions will require innovation in areas such as business models – including moving to a circular economy – and materials manufacture. In the county of Dalarna, Skanska has offered a unique green asphalt BioZero with net-zero emissions to the Swedish Road Administration. This asphalt is heated without fossil fuels, incorporates recycled asphalt and uses a bio-binder made of pine tree oil. The key now will be scaling up such innovations. 

Could bright ideas like net-zero asphalt be given the boost they need to become mainstream through a common carbon price for UK construction procurement? The procurement process and early cooperation between the project team are certainly vital to enabling innovation. “We’ve introduced carbon workshops with customers at an early stage ,” explains Skanska’s Agneta Wannerstrom. “We want to be a profitable business, we want to increase customer value, and we want to cut carbon emissions. We think that early dialogue with our clients is the way to achieve this.” 

The innovation needed for a rapid transition to net zero cannot happen without investment in new materials, business models and processes. For example, as Joshua Prentice of HeidelbergCement Sweden points out: “Two-thirds of the emissions from cement production come from the process of heating limestone. This means investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be essential for net-zero cement in the foreseeable future.” 

Who should be responsible for investing in innovations such as cement manufacture with CCS? Across Sweden’s border in Brevik, Norway, the government has pledged to fund around half the cost of HeidelbergCement’s new CCS plant – the first full-scale facility in a cement plant anywhere the world. The company aims to have a full-scale CCUS cement plant running on the Swedish island of Gotland by 2030 using a similar funding arrangement. The UK, on the other hand, is lagging behind. If we are to decarbonise our high-emission cement industry, we need to act now on CCUS.  

This example of equal public and private investment going into CCUS initiatives is one of the driving forces behind Sweden’s advanced position ahead of the UK. Although the UK is no longer part of the European Union, we must continue to learn from each other and share best practice to catalyse our progress towards Net Zero. 

“Ultimately, net zero is a global challenge – one that countries need to meet together,” says David Symons, WSP UK’s Director of Sustainability. “WSP in the UK has committed to halving the carbon footprint of our designs and advice we give to clients over the next ten years. This is a mighty challenge for us, and we’re drawing on lessons from Sweden and other countries across Europe and around the world to helps us do it.”