The Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap

The Roadmap was launched at the beginning of a crucial decade for climate action, with the need for our industry to decarbonise clearer than ever. It provides a common vision for achieving Net Zero carbon in the construction, operation, and demolition of buildings and infrastructure. Critically, the trajectory demonstrates to industry and government that there is a clear pathway to Net Zero by 2050 for the built environment, setting out step-by-step actions for different stakeholders.

If embraced by these stakeholders, the pathway and action plans that the Roadmap lays out have the potential to radically improve the future of our built environment; ensuring that our cities and communities are low carbon and sustainable for all.

The creation of the Roadmap

Collaboration was key, with comprehensive stakeholder engagement at all stages of this project that represented a significant cross-selection of our industry. Overall, more than 100 organisations co-created this guidance, and even more contributed through industry consultation. Launched in 2021, it represents industry coming together like never before to work towards the rapid decarbonisation of our sector.

The Roadmap is split into four key outputs. The Main Trajectory Report gives an overview of the project, key findings, and the steps industry must take to achieve Net Zero by 2050. The Technical Report goes into more depth into the numbers behind the Roadmap and how our team arrived at the conclusions they did. The Stakeholder Action Plans give clear guidance for a range of built-environment stakeholders as they work to meet these targets, and finally the Summary for Policy Makers recommends the key policies government should implement to enable industry to meet these targets.

A Progress Report on the Roadmap

To coincide with Built Environment Day at COP28, and to mark two years since the launch of the Roadmap, UKGBC reconvened our project partners to provide an update on the built-environment sector’s progress towards meeting our Net Zero trajectory. This is in the form of a “Progress Report”. This Progress Report reviews progress in the four years since the 2018 baseline of the Roadmap. It presents the operational carbon, embodied carbon, and F-gas emissions of the entire UK domestic, non-domestic, and infrastructure stock based on reported data, for comparison against the progress determined to be necessary by the original Roadmap.

What’s next for the Roadmap?

The Roadmap will be continually reviewed and updated by UKGBC. We aim to work closely with our members, policy makers, and the wider industry to ensure the learnings of the Roadmap are well understood and its recommendations are being successfully implemented. As part of this, we’re hosting workshops, producing subsequent guidance, and sharing knowledge across the value chain.

For the built environment, the Roadmap must remain just that – a roadmap we all follow as we work to decarbonise as a sector. Industry and policy makers are encouraged to use the report as a guide for decision making and path setting. At UKGBC, we’re following this expectation, as all of our carbon reduction workstreams directly respond to questions and recommendations raised in the report. We’re building a foundation of knowledge and guidance that supports this trajectory and makes the Net Zero built environment possible.

Overall, the Progress Report provides insight into progress (or lack thereof) on emissions reduction in the sector over the previous four years. The data and key findings are supplemented with narrative reflecting on the lack of supporting policy framework to deliver on the WLC Roadmap’s pathway to Net Zero.