Recently, Ellie Chowns MP tabled Amendment NC91 to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill calling for embodied carbon to be reported for all major construction projects. This built on momentum gained through the 2023 proposed Amendment 280 to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill tabled by Lord Ravensdale, and 2022’s Carbon Emissions (Buildings) Bill proposed in the commons.

Approval of Part Z is one of the top 10 policy changes included in our ACAN Circular Economy Policy Campaign.

Ongoing discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) about embodied carbon regulation indicate that the more momentum we can build within the industry that supports the introduction of such regulation, the greater the likelihood of the government taking notice and then taking steps to implement legislation.

The simplest way to do this is to show your support for embodied carbon regulation through the Part Z website. (Note that such support is used as support for the principle of regulation, rather than specific endorsement of the wording of the proposed Part Z regulation.) Many architects verbally support it and say that the lack of regulation is a major hurdle. ‘Part Z’ currently has about 200 statements of support from industry, but from our conversations with the Government it’s clear that many more statements are needed.

With Part Z, we are therefore asking our ACAN community to visit www.part-z.uk/support and add a statement on behalf of their company (if they haven’t already done so) to make it clear to the government that industry supports embodied carbon regulation.

We feel that the timing is good as MCHLG will shortly be releasing an AECOM-led report on Market Readiness for Embodied Carbon legislation in the UK, so there will be an increased focus on the subject. It would be great if we could secure further support for Part Z over the coming months to coincide with the report launch and build momentum for a renewed campaign calling for embodied carbon regulation.

Together, we can show that the UK construction industry is relying on government action in this area 💪

✍️ Please add a statement of support from your company to give it the push we all know it deserves.