• THE Carbon Emissions (Buildings) Bill is due to have its second reading in parliament tomorrow, Friday.

Greenhouse gas emissions from the construction of new buildings and infrastructure, known as “embodied carbon emissions”, are a significant driver of climate change, amounting to just under 50MtCO2e (metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent) per year in the UK: more than 10 per cent of total national emissions.

For context, there are 149 states in the world whose entire carbon footprint is smaller than the footprint of the UK’s construction sector.

Despite this embodied carbon emissions are unregulated in the UK. Current policy and regulation focus is on the energy used once the buildings are finished, and there are currently no national requirements to assess, report or reduce the carbon emissions embodied in construction.

The bill calls for legislation to regulate these emissions in the UK. Camden Council can take action to reduce the embodied carbon of its own construction by decreasing the amount of concrete it uses (incredibly, 8 per cent of all global emissions come from cement production) and by increasing the use of structural timber.

This timber, having captured carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helps to reduce global heating. Camden built Bacton Low Rise redevelopment with a timber structure, but due to heightened focus on fire risk is not currently planning to build more. This needs to be reconsidered: modern timber structures are safe and can be used for buildings up to 18metres tall, a sensible maximum height for new homes in our area.

At the same time we need to reduce energy used for heating existing buildings by installing insulation, low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps, and ventilation.

We are pleased Camden is investing in Alexandra Road estate, but call for more joined-up thinking. At present there’s a risk the £14million spend to fix the heating will be wasted as it does not enable swift transition from fossil fuels to low-carbon heating. We hope that this can be urgently reviewed.

CLIMATE EMERGENCY CAMDEN