Sustainability whitepaper

Supply Chain Collaboration. Is it Helping Drive Down Carbon in Infrastructure Projects?

Welcome to our new sustainability whitepaper on supply chain collaboration and driving down carbon.

Here, you’ll find everything you need to know - from why we commissioned it and what we discussed to the key takeaways we discovered and what we need to collectively achieve to drive down carbon emissions in infrastructure projects.

Why did we commission the whitepaper?

We commissioned this whitepaper to explore the importance of supply chain collaboration in reducing carbon emissions in infrastructure projects.

Who we spoke to

To gain insight into what the industry is doing well and where we can improve, we gathered insights from interviews with key stakeholders across the supply chain. Our contributors represent different layers of the supply chain and include end customers, tier 1 contractors, manufacturers, merchants, and sustainability consultants.

We would like to thank the following people for their contribution to our research.

Alexander Herridge, Anglian Water @one Alliance, Carbon and Sustainability Manager.
Joshua Harding, Severn Trent, Sustainability and Carbon Reporting Expert.
Paula ClaytonSmith, Local Council Roads Innovation Group, CEO.
Anthony Fernihough, AtkinsRéalis, Associate Director.
Dan Ulanowsky, Galliford Try, Low Carbon Manager.
Susan Giffard, Galliford Try, Head of Supply Chain.
Megan Adlen, Travis Perkins plc, Group Sustainability Director.
Daniel Camm, Wolseley, Group Environmental Manager.
Dalton Marshall, Rosehill Polymers, Business Manager.
Emma Pye, PYE Management, Founder and Director.
Ian Heptonstall, Supply Chain Sustainability School, Director.

What we discussed

Does procurement need to change? How important is sustainability in contracts? When should the supply chain be involved? These are just some of the key questions we asked our expert panel.

The roles of legislation, innovation, and the circular economy were also discussed and the topics of climate resilience, transport and measuring carbon were also explored.

To help you digest the details, we’ve structured the whitepaper into 10 easy-to-read chapters.

Chapter 1: Background

Chapter 2: How important is sustainability in contracts?

Chapter 3: When should the supply chain be involved?

Chapter 4: Measuring carbon

Chapter 5: Managing innovation

Chapter 6: The circular economy

Chapter 7: Transport

Chapter 8: Does procurement need to change?

Chapter 9: The role of legislation

Chapter 10: Climate resilience: are we ready for the needs of today and tomorrow?

Key takeaways

Our findings highlight the need for early supply chain engagement, consistent carbon measurement methodologies, and third-party verification to achieve meaningful carbon reductions.

The whitepaper also emphasises the importance of addressing scope 3 emissions, which include all indirect emissions in the value chain, both upstream and downstream. While scope 1 and 2 emissions were found to be generally well accounted for, we unearthed a need for greater focus on scope 3 emissions to achieve meaningful carbon reductions.

We also discovered the necessity of early supply chain involvement and collaboration to identify opportunities for carbon reduction and drive innovation in sustainable practices.

Our whitepaper concludes with 10 recommended action points for infrastructure.

Recommended action points

Give more weight to carbon reduction in contracts.
Involve the whole supply chain at optioneering.
Improve the measurement of carbon.
Improve methodology around Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
Improve innovation communication.
Make the circular economy work by improving methodology.
Embrace technology to understand carbon.
Upskill procurement teams with sustainability training.
Introduce agile legislation to drive and set a direction for change.
Plan and implement solutions for climate resilience.