A game changer in carbon management?

A new standard for environmental management – PAS 2080 – aims to slash infrastructure carbon emissions, and save the sector £1.5bn a year. Terry Ellis and Priyesh Depala explain.

Priyesh Depala (l) and Terry Ellis

What is PAS 2080?

It is a new specification for carbon management for the infrastructure sector. Published this month, the standard will provide all the guidance the value chain needs to cut carbon in new and existing infrastructure.

Importantly, PAS 2080 is very practical. It is a how-to guide that provides a framework for organisations at all levels of the value chain to collaborate and reduce their carbon emissions – and their cost. 

What is the problem it is trying to address?

Use of infrastructure accounts for approximately half of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. The ambition is to reduce UK emissions by 80% by 2050, therefore the infrastructure sector needs to take action – now. And, as set out in the Infrastructure Carbon Review, cutting carbon also cuts cost.

What kind of company should use it?

It is written for any organisation which operates in the infrastructure value chain – asset owners and managers, SMEs, designers, constructors and product or material suppliers.

PAS 2080 aims to provide a common language and framework to manage carbon at all levels of the infrastructure industry and to facilitate collaboration throughout infrastructure delivery. Collaborative approaches are key to making sure that every opportunity to cut carbon can be identified.

Who should take responsibility for cutting carbon in a company?

PAS 2080 is aimed at practitioners within organisations, especially those working hands-on in project delivery. Managing carbon should be the responsibility of everyone in an organisation.

What is in the standard?

PAS 2080 defines requirements for leadership and governance, targets and baselines, monitoring and reporting, quantification and continual improvement.  The requirements are set out for each value chain member, with guidance on how these should be applied at each work stage. The guidance document that accompanies the specification provides examples and good practice from across the infrastructure sector against all the themes in PAS 2080.

Why is it different to existing environmental standards?

There are already many standards that detail how to quantify carbon. PAS 2080 references these – for example, BS EN15804, which measures whole-life costs and embodied carbon of products and materials – but differs in providing a framework for managing carbon focusing on supply chain member behaviours.

Most firms already have environmental management systems in place, notably ISO 14001, but while that aims to manage and minimise the impacts of environmentally damaging activities, it doesn’t say how to reduce them. PAS 2080 provides the practical framework for setting targets, monitoring performance and reducing emissions.

Will it mean more red tape?

The PAS has been created to enable, not restrict. While there are defined requirements in PAS 2080, it enables value chain members with varying maturities in carbon management to understand what is expected from them to improve collaboration and innovation, and to realise carbon and cost benefits.

It references standards for BIM and information management to aid integration of carbon management with other developments in the industry. And it promotes early, strong engagement with suppliers.

What will it cost?

PAS 2080 can be adopted by any organisation with minimal cost. There will be a period of transition, but it should quickly become business as usual. There is not a huge amount of investment required, no new procedures to learn – it is more about integrating existing systems and processes. PAS 2080 is about cutting carbon to cut costs, rather than adding costs on to a business.

What outcomes will it deliver?

PAS 2080 will not guarantee success. However, if applied intelligently with good business management then it will be a powerful enabler to drive down cost, cut carbon emissions and unleash innovation. The Infrastructure Carbon Review – Two Years On report, published last month by the Green Construction Board, outlines the progress of many leading organisations in this area. 

On 16 exemplar projects in the past year, savings of 300,000 tonnes of CO2e and £140m were recorded. More and more organisations across the value chain are demonstrating that they are able to identify and implement carbon reductions in the assets and programmes they are involved with.

Terry Ellis is a principal environmental scientist at Mott MacDonald and Priyesh Depala is a graduate water sector analyst with the consultancy. Both were part of the PAS 2080 authoring team