Carbon Foot Printing of Steel Fabrication
BCSA has launched its carbon foot-printing tool to enable its members to easily and consistently measure their carbon footprint.
UK Government is committed to reducing national greenhouse emissions by 80% by 2050. To achieve this, significant reductions are required across all walks of life including construction. The steel construction sector recognises its responsibility to reduce its carbon footprint and has put in place a range of initiatives to help meet the Government’s targets.
Developed by SCI, the tool quantifies the impact from all aspects of the company’s activities including energy use, transport, waste, erection, etc. The methodology used to establish the company footprint is based on ‘The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the World Resource Institute). In addition, the tool generates a product footprint, i.e. the carbon footprint of 1 tonne of fabricated and erected primary and secondary structural steelwork. This includes the impact of making the steel and all other consumables used in the fabrication process and takes account of the recyclability of steel. The scope of this footprint is based on the recently launched PAS 2050 Specification for the measurement of the embodied greenhouse gas emissions in products and services (published by BSI).
BCSA Sustainability Charter members will be trialling the tool during 2009 and the information collected used to set steel construction industry Key Performance Indicators against which members can benchmark the performance of their company and set targets for reductions. The Tool will be updated as better information becomes available and BCSA members gain experience in using the tool.
The steel production industry is at the forefront of providing environmental impact information on steel products and this complementary UK initiative extends and reinforces this strong position.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Michael Sansom
Senior Manager Sustainability Group
Email: m.sansom@steel-sci.com
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 636574