Updated Guidance for State Bodies on reducing carbon in publicly procured construction projects

Approximately 10% of Greenhouse Gase emissions in Ireland emanate from industry. Clearly reducing this volume of emissions is essential for the State in meeting the ambitions set out in the Climate Action Plan 2023, which aims to halve all emissions by 2030 and reach net zero no later than 2050. In 2022, the cement sector alone emitted 2.88 MT CO², approximately 4.8% of the entire national emissions.

The construction industry has an integral role to play in reducing Ireland's emissions and the Government have identified this by establishing the cross-departmental "Cement and Construction Sector Decarbonisation Working Group." Consistent with modern approaches to climate action and a circular economy, the Group is holistic and encompasses the Office of Public Works, Department of Housing, Department of Environment, Department of An Taoiseach, state agencies such as the SEAI and others. While the Group has been engaging with industry leaders to innovate more sustainable methods of concrete production and discussing methods to incorporate more sustainable materials in the construction process such as timber, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke TD, has provided further guidance for state bodies in their approach to public procurement for construction projects going forward.

FUTURE GUIDANCE FOR STATE BODIES

The updated guidance is based on four key objectives which the State have identified in reducing the carbon output from the construction industry while working on public contracts. These are:

1. Using less concrete and cement;
2. Specify lower carbon concrete;
3. Specify lower carbon cement; and
4. Introduce broader carbon management systems for large infrastructure projects.

The Minister has provided more detailed guidance which aims to meet the above four goals and this guidance is relevant for all projects commencing design stage from September 2024. The guidance stipulates that:

• All public bodies should seek an Environmental Product Declaration, to an EN 15804 standard, or equivalent, when directly procuring cement or concrete products.
• All public bodies must be guided by best-practice carbon management design approaches, including avoidance of over-specification of materials, when undertaking or procuring construction projects
• High-carbon CEM I cement products should not be procured by public bodies, or used in publicly produced construction projects, except where a technical justification is made.
• Concrete products procured by public bodies, or used in publicly produced construction projects, including poured or pre-cast products, should in general specify a minimum of 30% clinker replacement, consistent with IS EN 206, except where a technical justification is made.
• Public bodies procuring infrastructure projects (construction other than buildings) in receipt of exchequer funding in excess of €60 million, should produce or procure a Whole Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions assessment for their project. From 1 January 2026, projects in receipt of exchequer funding in excess of €10 million should produce such an assessment. Projects below this scale should also consider implementing this assessment.

Switching the view to longer term, from September 2025 public bodies that are commencing design for new buildings for projects in receipt of exchequer funding in excess of €10 million in the case of non-residential buildings, or in excess of €60 million in the case of residential buildings, should produce or procure a Whole Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions assessment in accordance technical guidance to be provided by SEAI in 2025. From 1 June 2026, projects in receipt of exchequer funding in excess of €5 million in the case of non-residential buildings, or in excess of €30 million in the case of residential buildings, should produce such an assessment. Projects below this scale should also consider implementing this assessment.

THE REPORT

The updated guidance is based on a recent export consultant report titled "Reducing Embodied Carbon in Cement and Concrete Through Public Procurement in Ireland." The project was commissioned by the Cement and Construction Decarbonisation Working Group. The report sets out some examples from the international community who have incorporated more sustainable materials like timber into construction than Ireland e.g. 80% of new homes in Scotland in 2022 were built with timber frames as opposed to 25% in Ireland.

Ultimately the future roadmap for the sector is geared towards designing better, building better, specifying better, using less materials, using lower carbon materials and applying carbon management approach to projects.

Written by: Feilim O'Caoimh and Louis Brennan