Lendlease outlines roadmap to reach zero carbon emissions in Europe

The Roadmap will help Lendlease align with the 1.5C trajectory

Lendlease has published a Roadmap to Absolute Zero Carbon for its European footprint. The document details plans to eliminate the use of diesel on its construction sites and ensuring that all electricity used by the company is REGO-backed (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin certificates) from clean renewable sources. Notably, this excludes energy-from-waste.

The company will also work with its supply chain, covering material extraction through to manufacturing, to improve the environmental impact of the value chain. This will include the delivery of a bespoke supply chain conference focused on sustainability.

The Roadmap will build towards the company’s commitment to achieving absolute zero-carbon by 2040, aligning Lendlease to the 1.5C pathway.

Lendlease’s chief executive officer in Europe, Neil Martin, said: “Setting targets is important, but it is how we deliver against those targets that really matters. In our roadmap to absolute zero we recognise that this is not going to be an easy task and that we don’t yet have all the answers, but it is vital that we take action and we are committed to doing so.”

As well as accounting for nearly 40% of global emissions, the built environment is expected to double the global building stock by 2060 as the world’s population approaches 10 billion.

Lendlease has previously signed up to the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) Net-Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment. Earlier this year, the WorldGBC has confirmed that signatories to the commitment will work to ensure that all of their buildings are zero-carbon by 2050 – a move that will reduce more than 3.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

WorldGBC has issued a report outlining how companies in the sector can focus on both operational and embodied carbon to reach net-zero emission buildings by 2050. The report notes that operational emissions (from energy used to heat, cool and light buildings) account for 28% of the built environment sector’s 39% contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. The remaining 11% derives from embodied carbon emissions found in the material and construction processes across a building’s entire lifecycle.

As such, Lendlease is looking to decarbonise the materials that it uses. It is one of the founding members of the Climate Group’s SteelZero initiative, which commits companies to procuring, specifying, stocking or producing 100% net-zero steel across all operations by 2050 at the latest.  

Steel is a notoriously high-emission material and a hard-to-abate sector. More than 90% of metal produced in the world is steel, and the sector is accountable for around 7% of global emissions from fuel use. Researchers believe that a combination of electrification, energy storage, alternative fuels and circular economy innovations are needed to align the sector with net-zero. Carbon capture and offsetting are also being explored by some producers.

The UK Green Building Council’s chief executive Julie Hirigoyen added: “It’s really encouraging to see Lendlease set an absolute zero carbon target for 2040, and map out how it intends to achieve this stretching goal. Without all the solutions at our fingertips yet, we need the vision and determination of industry leaders to set the bar high and collaborate to deliver it. By publishing this roadmap Lendlease is doing just that.”

Matt Mace