By Jonny Breen, Principal Digital Consultant, Mott Macdonald

New Zealand’s Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act 2019 commits us to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, demanding a step change in our approach and analysis of future asset portfolios across every sector. Assets in planning now need to operate in a net zero emissions future and need to be designed accordingly

New Zealand has set several reduction targets to break down this audacious goal, setting the trajectory and driving the change required for every industry, and throughout supply chains. The carbon-neutral goal of public organisations by 2025, and national emissions being 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, are two examples of where decisions made this year will directly influence future success. 

Infrastructure, therefore, has a significant role to play in achieving this target; but it has lagged relative to its contribution of our total footprint. The focus on operational and user carbon has yet to see the required reductions. For example, monitoring data from the Ministry for the Environment shows that carbon dioxide emissions are rising at twice the rate of population growth, and that vehicle kilometres travelled continue to grow faster than active modes of transport, despite the significant investment in these areas. 

Acute vs. chronic infrastructure carbon

The need to decrease all carbon emissions immediately is understood; however, there is no consensus on where to start. Do we tackle the chronic condition of the emissions released daily as part of our operations? Or should greater emphasis be put on the acute carbon emitted as a result of building new infrastructure? 

Tackling the chronic condition of our daily operational emissions is logical when we think of our emission reduction pathway. It just can’t be done in isolation of acute emissions realised during construction. This is affirmed by the recent Science Based Targets initiative definition of ‘net zero’, which clearly states that if the emissions of others (our suppliers and contractors) is over 40 per cent, a reduction target must be set. 

Controlling capital carbon

The continued decarbonisation of New Zealand’s energy grid will further emphasise the role of infrastructure. With a $61.9-billion infrastructure budget, we are set to emit large quantities of carbon from construction materials and processes – despite requiring an immediate and steep decline to achieve our net zero target. 

The carbon we emit in the design and construction of infrastructure is known by many terms:

• embodied carbon of materials
• Stage A (product and construction stages) as per Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings
• capital carbon relating to the capex delivery phase 
• Scope 3 emissions as per guideance from the Ministry for the Environment 
• upstream emissions as per the Greenhouse Gas Protocol
• indirect emissions as per the ISO standard for quantification and reporting of emissions.

Most importantly, this is the carbon we are realising now and would be included in an organisation’s annual carbon reporting as per the Ministry for the Environment guideline (Scope 3, Category 4, materials). It’s also the carbon fully within our control; therefore, decisions made today will directly impact the carbon emitted. 

Carbon management

People need to see that carbon is of central importance. Carbon reduction must take its place within organisations
in a similar way to ethics, and health and safety, because, like those values, carbon reduction makes business sense.

This challenge is global, but we can look to international innovations, such as PAS 2080: Carbon management in infrastructure, to provide the framework and guidance needed. The key value from PAS 2080 is its applicability across the entire supply chain, providing a consistent approach to methods, measurements and reporting. 

Manage what you can measure

A crucial first step is establishing the baseline to quantify what carbon emissions would have been in the absence of any planned measure to reduce them. A baseline provides clarity on where carbon is at a moment in time, which, in turn, identifies where carbon savings can be achieved. This then becomes the benchmark against which you can measure the effectiveness of any interventions. 

Setting a reduction target against this baseline becomes the vision statement and focus of low-carbon thinking across the entire supply chain. Reduction targets should be challenging and achievable, bringing the realities of a net zero New Zealand closer to home for those planning, designing and constructing your assets today, and into the future. 

A collaborative effort

Decisions made by today’s infrastructure professionals will fundamentally determine the viability of our national and global targets. It is no longer a distant problem. We all need to ask ourselves: Where does my project fit on this road map to net zero? The recent Emissions Reduction Plan clearly states that local government is responsible for financing local infrastructure projects and will need to ensure that this investment aligns with climate objectives.

The effective alignment of the supply chain from designers to contractors is already delivering innovations that were not previously envisaged. This is a reassuring sign that it is possible to elevate our low-carbon trajectory, but it requires greater effort and collaboration from the rest of the industry. 

Set yourself up for innovation

Often, the products and services offered reflect common industry specifications, but is there an opportunity for them to change or challenge the design and the specification? Instead of squeezing margins, empowering the supply chain promotes savings through new ways of achieving outcomes. The opportunity to cut carbon decreases dramatically as you move through the phases of a construction project, so engaging your supply chain early is crucial.

The United Kingdom’s most progressive infrastructure clients and their supply chains have tackled carbon emissions at both the project and the program level, such as Anglian Water, the United Kingdom’s largest water and water recycling organisation, which has won awards for low-carbon innovation. The company’s innovative thinking has enabled it to exceed capital and operational reduction targets of 60 per cent and 40 per cent by 2020, reducing the average capital costs of assets by 22 per cent in the process. 

Flex muscle through procurement 

Procurement departments have a central role in advancing low-carbon, low-cost solutions – they must be challenged to write carbon into tender and contract documents. This is where risk is allocated, innovation is encouraged and performance is incentivised. 

Setting an outcomes-based specification when procuring a project, not a product- or process-based specification, enables suppliers to bring new thinking. Incentivise innovation in procurement arrangements and challenge your suppliers to compete against each other to find the lowest whole-life carbon and cost solutions. Simply put, if carbon is not in the contract, motivating and enforcing performance is difficult – if not impossible. 

The pace and scale of change does not look to abate in the coming decades, and organisations are looking to tools and frameworks to help guide them on a new low-carbon journey.

It is imperative that carbon domain expertise is disseminated into digital solutions, such as the Moata Carbon Portal, to enable the entire supply chain to understand a previously unconsidered metric and test various solutions with ease. Meanwhile, existing frameworks, such as the PAS 2080 standard, will help align the entire supply chain to establish a common understanding, approach and language for whole-life carbon management.

The objective of addressing climate change to ensure a sustainable world for future generations provides the motivation needed for action today. Our task is to think in a multi-generational context and to embed low-carbon thinking now to set New Zealand up for a net zero future.