Ebook : Marshalls Climate Challenge

Marshalls'

Climate

Challenge

One business's attempt to change minds,

change an industry and change the future.

Marshalls'

Climate

Challenge

One business's attempt to change minds,

change an industry and change the future.

Copyright ©Marshalls 2021

Landscape House

Premier Way

Lowfields Business Park

Elland

HX5 9HT

www.marshalls.co.uk/sustainability

Published July 2021

Contents

3 Introduction

7 The Planet's Carbon Challenge The Paris Agreement Carbon is the enemy Climate crisis

The path to zero carbon The heat is on Security and inequality

17 The Government's Carbon Challenge Tougher measures required

The UK's carbon reduction performance Towards meaningful change

TCFD reporting standards A need for leadership The price of change

25 The Industry's Carbon Challenge Concrete evidence

Putting innovation in the mix Home truths

Setting standards

31 Marshalls' Carbon Challenge Ambitious targets

Held to the highest standards Open reporting

The Carbon Trust Standard Water management Renewable energy

39 Our Challenge to the Industry

Beware of greenwashing

Our carbon challenge to you

2

"WE CAN HAVE AS

MANY MEETINGS

AND CONFERENCES AS WE WANT, BUT AS LONG AS WE ARE NOT REALLY TREATING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AS A CRISIS, WE WON'T SEE ANY REAL CHANGES..."

Greta Thunberg,

climate and environmental activist

3

Introduction

Let's start with an uncomfortable truth. All construction products have some impact on the environment. Even ours. Whether that's in the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, transportation, site wastage - or right through their lifecycle to disposal or recycling.

As the world battles with an impending climate emergency, businesses have a responsibility to mitigate the damage we do. That means balancing our impact against our responsibility to safeguard the planet we share.

But if we really want to be seen as responsible corporate citizens, we need to go beyond good intentions. We need to instigate change. And we need to do that now.

If we are going to make the progress we need in mitigating the effects of climate change, the leaders within our sector are going to have to think about future construction in a new way.

As the sector works hard to improve its Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) scores and report carbon performance to stakeholders, the construction sector is challenged to find lower-carbon solutions to fulfil its requirements.

Indeed, if your genuine ambition is to maximise low-carbon opportunities in all aspects of your business, you can achieve big wins in one key area: the materials you specify. And if those materials have been conceived, designed, engineered, manufactured - and PROVEN - to offer the lowest carbon impact in the market, then shouldn't you choose them?

4

As you will read in this book, we believe that it's time to think seriously about the climate challenges facing us as individuals, businesses and a society. And part of that requires us to think about the language surrounding climate action.

There is a lot of confusion around the language used to describe the activities that businesses say they take to mitigate climate change. It is in the grey areas between similar definitions that some companies find the wriggle room to make claims that are, at best, misguided and in some cases simply the greenwashing of practices that have little or no impact.

We believe that greenwashing poses a major challenge to reducing our impact on the climate as it prevents people from making properly informed choices. While it is a challenge that we took on at the outset of our own carbon reduction journey, it remains a persistent issue that we are determined to address.

The difference between 'zero-carbon' and 'net zero' is subtle, so it's important to understand precisely what claims are being made.

'Zero-carbon' is pretty straightforward: it means that no carbon dioxide is emitted at any point in the manufacturing process, so no carbon needs to be captured or offset.

'Net zero' is effectively creating a balance between the amount of greenhouse gases which are released into the atmosphere and the amount which are taken out. So any amount of carbon emitted could claim to be 'offset' by carbon removal technology or the planting of trees. However, while the technology to capture carbon from the atmosphere exists, it does not yet exist at a scale big enough to make a tangible difference.

While planting trees will undoubtedly help to slow the rate of climate change, they won't reverse it on their own. If we stopped cutting down trees today, we would reduce our annual emissions by about 10%. Newly planted trees only reach their optimum carbon absorption capability when they are mature, so there is the element of a gamble on saplings taking hold and then living for 100 years without encountering disease, uprooting by wind or land-slips or removal for future development.

Introduction

5

Here at Marshalls we are wholeheartedly committed to helping our customers make informed choices that enable them to create better spaces to the highest sustainability standards. We believe that, together, we have the power to transform the climate impact of the industry.

It's a challenge that we take seriously - and you should too.

Our future depends on it.

Note:The standard unit for measuring carbon footprints is the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Wherever we talk about CO2e it is shorthand for CO2, carbon dioxide and GHG emissions. This enables us to talk about the combined impact of multiple greenhouse gases using a common term. CO2e denotes the amount of CO2 that would be required to create the same amount of warming.

6

"THE BIGGEST THREAT TO SECURITY THAT MODERN HUMANS HAVE EVER FACED."

Sir David Attenborough, broadcaster, on climate change

7

The Planet's

Carbon Challenge

Our world is getting warmer and all the evidence points to the fact that human activities are a major contributor to climate change. But our actions have consequences. If humans continue to pursue our activities unchecked, the repercussions are likely to be more severe than the need to reach for the factor 50 more frequently.

Allowing temperatures to rise by as little as 2°C will lead to extreme weather, widespread drought, mass migration, food scarcity, rising oceans, species extinctions and, by the end of the current century, a significant change in the planet we all live on.

If this sounds dramatic, it's because it is. 150 years of industrialisation have taken their toll on our planet's ability to regulate its climate and we are the last generation of humans with the opportunity to prevent irreversible damage that will make life on Earth more difficult for generations to come.

That's some responsibility.

The Paris Agreement

According to temperature analysis conducted by NASA, the average global temperature on Earth has increased by 1.23°C since 1880, with two thirds of that warming having occurred since 1975, increasing at roughly 0.2°C per decade. Unabated, that increase would, over time, fundamentally change life on earth for everyone.