Embodied carbon and retrofitting policy under the microscope by MPs

• Watch Parliament TV: Sustainability of the built environment
• Inquiry: Sustainability of the built environment
• Environmental Audit Committee

Witnesses

20 October 2021

At 2.15pm

• Dr Jannik Giesekam, Chancellor’s Fellow in Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde
• Dr Alice Moncaster, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environment, Open University
• Peter Conboy, Development Director, igloo

At 3.15pm

• Dr Alice Owen, Professor: Business Sustainability and Stakeholder Engagement, University of Leeds
• Robert Lambe, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building, and Managing Director, Melius Homes Limited
• Caterina Brandmayr, Head of Climate Policy, Green Alliance

This is the second evidence session of the Sustainability of the Built Environment inquiry. Previous sessions have heard that reducing buildings’ carbon emissions is the “next biggest area” to be tackled in the UK’s quest to reduce emissions, with the Government at present doing too little in this area.

The session’s first panel will explore the best way to assess embodied carbon, as well as whole life carbon assessments, and the costs of more sustainable construction. There is currently no UK policy requiring embodied carbon emissions to be reduced or even measured, whilst many other countries are set to introduce targets on embodied carbon in the coming years.

The second panel will discuss best practice for the retrofitting or reuse of existing buildings, and what incentives exist for retrofitting. The inquiry’s heard that a million homes have been built since the Government reversed a commitment to build zero carbon homes, all of which will need to be retrofitted at homeowners’ expense.

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

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