Net Zero focus of the Committee for Climate Change’ s 7th Carbon Budget are:
• Buildings
• Transport and Plant
• Productivity-driven demand reduction
• Climate Friendly choices
• Enabling low-carbon energy infrastructure
• Investing in nature-based solutions
Further details can be found at https:// www. constructionleadershipcouncil. co. uk / wp-content / uploads / 2026 / 05 / CZ- Refreshed-programme-slides. pdf
For those of you who have followed Construct Zero since its launch, you’ ll notice continuity with areas such as Electric Vehicles, whilst also featuring a new focus in topics including i) energy transition and ii) productivity.
On electric vehicles, the CCC’ s 7 th Carbon Budget noted the construction sector has a key role to play in meeting the Government’ s target that 70 % of vans sold by 2030 must be EV’ s( second only to Domestic RMI). By 2035,100 % of new car and van sales must be electric.
However, for the annual year up to November 2024, CZ analysis( drawn from the Society of Motor Manufacturers) showed 5.2 % of the vans sold were EV’ s. One of the key issues impacting the growth in take-up is the lack of accurate information economywide about the long-term financial benefits of buying EV’ s. This is, and will continue to, impact when businesses are deciding whether to purchase EV’ s for their fleet.
The Civil Engineering and Contractors Association will kindly be chairing, on behalf of Construct Zero, a new sprint project focusing on myth-busting three key areas:
1. Evidencing the financial benefits of HVO( and other biofuels) versus diesel
2. Providing a true picture on the availability of all electric vehicles( not just on-road): A true-evidenced based picture on the duration of EV’ s( once charged) compared to standard vehicles.
3. Understanding from participating members on both the benefits of using EV’ s, together with the barriers of doing so, including from an infrastructure perspective, with case studies to support the final report.
This report will present the current evidence-based picture on the sector’ s take up of EV’ s; and how this will help and educate industry in being able to step up and improve its take-up. It will also take account of the Government’ s recent proposals in this space as announced at https:// www. gov. uk / government / consultations / zero-emission-vehiclemandate-review
If industry is to invest with confidence, it needs a stronger evidence base on where growth will come from, what the likely scale of opportunity is, and how Government policy and client demand will translate into a visible pipeline of work.”
On energy transition, whilst the legally binding carbon budgets set out a clear direction of travel for the UK economy, many construction businesses do not yet have a quantified view of the scale, timing and likely client base of the energy transition pipeline. This creates subsequent uncertainty for businesses considering investment in capability, skills, equipment and supply chain capacity.
If industry is to invest with confidence, it needs a stronger evidence base on where growth will come from, what the likely scale of opportunity is, and how Government policy and client demand will translate into a visible pipeline of work. The Construct Zero team will be developing, as its second sprint project, a quantified view of the energy transition pipeline, drawing from the carbon budget evidence base and identifying the likely scale of growth, key markets and client groups, before presenting this at the ACE Parliamentary Reception on 26th October. Following that event, the team will be working with its Construct Zero cohort to produce an industry-facing pipeline document in the New Year.
On productivity, we know public procurement and commercial models
can encourage input-based contracting, rather than rewarding value, outcomes and whole-life performance. However, there is emerging evidence from Lower Thames Crossing( LTC) and other major projects that could help demonstrate what can be done within public procurement rules, but this needs to be drawn together into a clear and practical case study.
Shifting from input-based contracting to output or outcome-based contracting could help clients secure better value, improve productivity and support innovation, while still operating within the public procurement framework. It could also unlock new business models for industry, allowing suppliers to be rewarded for more productive delivery enabled by AI and digital tools, rather than being constrained by hours-based contracts.
For its third sprint project, Construct Zero will use LTC as the core evidence and case study to evidence how carbon can be used as an outcome in procurement as well as setting out the procurement and commercial terms that can support value-based, outputbased or outcome-based contracting within the current public procurement rules, including how the newly published Government Social Value PPN could be applied in practice.
This will result in a practical guidance note for public sector clients and procurement professionals, supported by training materials and a worked case study based on LTC.
Finally, in the Autumn, Construct Zero will be opening up applications for its popular Business Champion programme. You will be able to join over 150 existing Champions, to promote your net zero work and share best practice at popular Business Champion and Partner forum
If you’ d like to apply to join this free programme( with no mandatory level of participation) and / or would like to find out more about the Sprint Projects, please do contact Stuart. Young @ businessandtrade. gov. uk who would be happy to discuss this further.
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