Frazer-Nash Consultancy has delivered new analysis to support the UK’s decarbonisation efforts, providing the Government with a strong foundation to develop a robust reporting framework for emissions in the steel, cement and concrete sectors.
The steel and cement industries within the UK play a vital role in delivering critical buildings and infrastructure. However, they are also regarded as ‘hard-to-decarbonise’ sectors and are significant contributors to UK carbon emissions. In the most recent UK Government figures, the steel industry accounts for roughly 13%–14% of manufacturing greenhouse emissions (2.2%–2.4% of total UK emissions) [source: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0016/CDP-2023-0016.pdf] while the concrete/cement sector is responsible for roughly 1.5% of total UK emissions [source: Mineral Products Association UK Concrete and Cement Industry Roadmap to Net Zero: Net Zero Carbon].
Frazer-Nash was commissioned to undertake a significant research project for the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in collaboration with ConstructionLCA, exploring the data quality of life cycle assessments (LCAs) of steel, cement and concrete products. This study was undertaken to increase trust and understanding of the data; providing an essential foundation for an effective reporting framework to drive market decarbonisation.
Through this work, Frazer-Nash delivered a comprehensive set of recommendations addressing data quality, methodological choices and opportunities to further enhance current LCA approaches. These published findings support the government’s ambitions to grow the market for low- carbon industrial products, which includes developing an Embodied Emissions Reporting Framework (EERF). This research has further strengthened DESNZ’s understanding of using different emissions accounting standards, and the prevalence of different types of products, both imported and produced in the UK.
Felix Ritchie, Client Director for DESNZ at Frazer-Nash Consultancy said: "We are proud of our work applying our environmental and data expertise to ensure governments can make efficient, informed policy decisions as they focus on working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and driving the energy transition. Our hope and expectation is that this latest work will pave the way for further collaboration with DESNZ, wider government and industry. It also marks an important step for us profiling the life cycle assessment capabilities that we are applying to support the decarbonisation of operations for an ever-growing number of industry clients.”
Alongside the published report, Frazer-Nash also developed a bespoke LCA comparator tool, enabling direct comparison between the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (EU CBAM) and alternative life cycle assessment methodologies. As a result, DESNZ has gained an increased understanding of emerging EU CBAM requirements, and how these translate to internationally-recognised construction product standards.
