Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap | UKGBC /our-work/topics/whole-life-carbon-roadmap/ The voice of our sustainable built environment Tue, 01 Sep 2026 15:17:31 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 /wp-content/uploads/2023/02/cropped-UKGBC-favicon-1.png Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap | UKGBC /our-work/topics/whole-life-carbon-roadmap/ 32 32 Innovation Showcase – Low Impact Construction Materials and Systems /events/innovation-showcase-low-impact-construction-materials-and-systems/ Wed, 26 Aug 2026 14:46:01 +0000 /?post_type=event&p=71438 A webinar showcasing low-carbon, circular and resource-efficient materials helping reduce construction impacts across the built environment.

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This webinar will showcase innovative solutions available to help built environment practitioners reduce the impacts from the construction of their projects. It will help attendees understand the materials and systems available and have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions directly to solution providers.

Embodied carbon currently makes up 20% of UK built environment emissions, whilst the embodied ecological impact of the materials we use affect nature globally. We need to find lower-impact ways to source and use materials, including exploring bio-based materials and turning waste streams into valuable resources.

UKGBC has recently published the Whole Life Carbon Framework and the Framework for a Nature Positive Built Environment, both of which encourage the use of low-impact and circular materials. Ƶ also exploring how modular construction systems using sustainable materials can be scaled across the built environment. This webinar will showcase some of these solutions, and give members the chance to ask questions directly to innovators.

Why attend?

1

Understand some of the solutions available to reduce the construction impacts of projects

2

Ask questions directly to the solution providers

Who should attend?

Design teams (architects, engineers, sustainability consultants)

Contractors

Developers

UKGBC Cancellation and Refund Policy

Please see our website for more details on our cancellations and refunds

Other Information

Session length: 1 hour

If you’re unsure if your organisation is a member, please check our Members Directory.

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Skills, Resilience and Whole Life Carbon: Turning Roadmaps into Delivery /news/skills-resilience-and-whole-life-carbon-turning-roadmaps-into-delivery/ Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:43:32 +0000 /?post_type=news&p=71244 UKGBC's UK Climate Resilience and Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmaps set the ambition, but delivery depends on people. Douglas Morrison, Deputy CEO at BE-ST, explores why the construction sector needs a more coherent, responsive skills system to turn low carbon and resilient building ambitions into reality.

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The Ƶ’s UK Climate Resilience Roadmap and Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap provide two important reminders for our sector.

The first is that the transition to a low carbon built environment is not an abstract future challenge. It is already here. The second is that our ability to respond depends not only on regulation, technology, finance or innovation, but on people. More specifically, it depends on whether our skills system can equip new entrants, existing workers, educators, employers and clients with the confidence and competence to turn ambition into delivery.

“That is not a small task”.

As a Building Life Ambassador and through our work at BE-ST, our recent work reinforced the scale and complexity of the challenge. The construction skills system is substantial. It includes colleges, universities, private training providers, employers, manufacturers, professional bodies and community organisations. It supports apprentices, students, graduates, existing workers, career changes and specialist practitioners. However, scale should not be confused with coherence.

If we want the sector to respond effectively to the UKGBC roadmaps, we need a skills system that is better aligned with the outcomes we are asking industry to deliver. Climate resilience and whole life carbon literacy can no longer sit at the edge of mainstream provision. They need to be embedded in further and higher education programmes, apprenticeships, professional development and workforce upskilling in ways that are practical, applied and relevant to real work.

This matters because competence is not simply the possession of knowledge. It is the product of knowledge, skills, behaviours and experience. Understanding whole life carbon as a theoretical construct is important, but is not enough. Learners and workers need to understand how design choices, procurement decisions, material selection, sequencing, installation quality, maintenance, reuse and adaptation affect performance in real settings. The same is true of climate resilience. It is not enough to know that heat, flood, wind, water scarcity and other hazards are increasing. We need the capability to assess risk, make decisions, deliver interventions and learn from practice.

That requires a more iterative approach to curriculum and qualification design. Our understanding of climate resilience and whole life carbon is evolving rapidly. So too are technologies, standards, procurement models and client expectations. Training pathways cannot be allowed to lag years behind practice. They need a clearer core of mandatory competence, supported by flexible, responsive elements that can adapt to employer, regional and programme needs without undermining quality, safety or portability.

We need policy certainty, but not policy rigidity.”

Policy has a central role in enabling that shift. Industry cannot invest confidently in people, facilities, equipment and curriculum reform if the signals it receives are uncertain, fragmented or short term. We need policy certainty, but not policy rigidity. The aim should be iterative, purposeful and sustained policy development that gives the sector consistency, direction and assurance, while still allowing evidence, innovation and practice to shape implementation over time.

There is also more we can do to align approaches across the four nations. The construction workforce does not operate neatly within administrative boundaries. Employers, supply chains and professional standards move across the UK, yet qualification structures, funding models and curriculum arrangements are often disaggregated. Devolution rightly allows different nations to respond to their own economic, social and policy context, but divergence should not become an unnecessary barrier to efficiency, workforce mobility or shared improvement. Greater alignment around competence, evidence and outcomes would help the sector respond more effectively to common challenges.

We should also be honest about the support educators need. Colleges, universities and training providers are being asked to prepare learners for a sector that is changing quickly. That cannot be achieved through curriculum documentation alone. Educators need exposure to emerging practice, live projects, manufacturers, design teams, contractors, clients and researchers. They need time and support to remain current. They also need stronger mechanisms for knowledge exchange with industry, particularly in areas where practice is developing faster than formal standards.

 

This is where the work of UKGBC and its members is so valuable. The roadmaps demonstrate the collective capability that exists across our industry. They also show the importance of collaboration, openness and humility. We should celebrate best practice, but we should also be prepared to acknowledge what is not working. There remains much we do not know, and an almost limitless number of ways in which we can improve.

At BE-ST, we firmly believe in the power of multidisciplinary collaboration. It is central to our skills and training programmes, our innovation activity and our work with partners across industry, academia and the public sector. It will also be central to this year’s , focused on driving delivery.

My Call to Action in Simple

Engage with the UKGBC roadmaps. Actively highlight the work you and your organisation are doing that demonstrates best practice. Be open and honest about the barriers, gaps and unintended consequences you are experiencing. Seek support where you need it, and offer collaboration where you can. Most importantly, support your local colleges, universities and training providers to embed the principles of climate resilience and whole life carbon literacy into their curriculum.

Roadmaps matter because they help us see the route ahead. But delivery depends on people. If we want a built environment that is low carbon, resilient and fit for the future, we need to invest in the competence, confidence and capability of the people who will make it real.

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Resilient by Design: Putting Adaptation Back into the Climate Equation /news/resilient-by-design-putting-adaptation-back-into-the-climate-equation/ Wed, 29 Jul 2026 08:57:30 +0000 /?post_type=news&p=71123 Britain's buildings, transport and drainage were built for a climate that's gone. Emma Howard Boyd CBE explains why adaptation can't wait any longer.

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Last week I wrote to the Financial Times to make a simple argument: that adaptation has long been the neglected half of climate policy, and that this summer’s overheated hospitals, disrupted railways and closed classrooms show that resilience is an economic issue, not merely an environmental one. Cutting emissions does not remove the need to prepare for the climate that is already here. That argument was about our infrastructure, but it applies to the built environment in its entirety, because the infrastructure described in that letter does not exist in isolation from the buildings around it, and neither government’s response nor industry’s should treat buildings’ resilience as a standalone problem.

Heat does not stop at the platform edge or the hospital car park. A railway line that buckles in extreme heat sits alongside homes that overheat for exactly the same reason: both were designed and built for a climate that no longer exists. A wildfire burning outside a town ( as many communities across Europe, and even in the Scottish Highlands have experienced this month) is not a rural problem separate from the built environment; it is a direct threat to the homes, water supplies and infrastructure at the urban edge. A flooded substation and a flooded high street are symptoms of the same underlaying failure to plan for the climate conditions our infrastructure and buildings will actually face over their lifetimes, rather than the ones assumed when they were designed. Britain’s buildings, transport and drainage were never designed for the risks now arriving, but our buildings, transport and drainage are three expressions of the same system.

Treating them as separate policy conversations, run by separate teams and funded through separate budgets, is precisely how resilience keeps ending up as the neglected half.

Some of the sharpest leadership on this is already coming from City Hall. Sadiq Khan’s Heat Ready London plan, launched this summer, is the clearest example yet of a mayor treating heat as a whole-system issue rather than an emergency response: retrofitting the highest-risk homes, protecting the most vulnerable Londoners and building resilience into the fabric of the city rather than reacting only once a red warning is issued. It is exactly the joined-up thinking this argument calls for, and it is a template that should not stay within the M25.

The need for a joined-up response is not a new observation for UKGBC. It is the argument at the heart of the BuildingLife Ambassador Campaign: that mitigation, resilience and nature recovery are interdependent outcomes of a single system, not three items on a checklist to be worked through independently. A building that meets its carbon target but cannot cope with heat or flood risk has not solved the problem it was set up to solve. The same is true in reverse. Infrastructure resilience delivered without regard to the buildings it serves, or built environment policy delivered without regard to the wider infrastructure it depends on, will always fall short of what the moment demands.

That is why UKGBC’s Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap and the UK Climate Resilience Roadmap matter so much, and why this campaign matters now. Together, they provide the clearest picture yet of what a genuinely future-ready built environment requires: not just lower emissions, but buildings and places that can withstand the climate impacts already locked in. The Whole Life Carbon Roadmap gives industry and government a common pathway to decarbonise the built environment at pace, while the UK Climate Resilience Roadmap sets out the urgent policy changes needed to embed adaptation into everyday decisions, from planning and design to retrofit and investment. Without both these shifts happening in lockstep, we risk leaving people, places and infrastructure exposed to the impacts of a changing climate.

Adaptation should not be framed only as a Treasury exercise in reducing future liabilities. It is an investment in national prosperity, and the same is true of well-designed buildings. Well-designed adaptation restores nature, strengthens infrastructure, improves public health and underpins growth. Retrofit that improves thermal performance protects people from both winter cold and summer heat. Sustainable drainage integrated into new development protects the building and the street around it. Nature based solutions on and around buildings cool the surrounding area as well as the building itself. None of this is exotic. Much of it is already understood by the industry and demonstrated by the leadership pockets we see across the sector. What is missing is the whole system approach that would let this leadership become the norm rather than the exception.

That whole system approach cannot be delivered by industry alone, and it cannot be delivered by government alone either. This is where cooperation must move from aspiration to practice. Government sets the framework within which investment decisions get made: building regulations, planning policy, infrastructure investment criteria, and the price signals that determine what gets built and retrofitted, and to what standard. Industry holds the delivery capability, the technical expertise and the capital that can put those frameworks into action at scale. Neither can substitute for the other, and progress so far has been too dependent on individual leadership on both sides rather than being built into how the system operates.

The Climate Change Committee has repeatedly warned that progress remains inadequate. But evidence is no longer the barrier, leadership is.

Every major public investment should be assessed against the climate conditions it will face over its lifetime, and that principle should apply equally to every major building investment and retrofit decision, public and private, and it should be embedded across government, from Treasury spending decisions to planning and infrastructure policy. That means writing resilience requirements into planning policy and building standards with the same seriousness currently given to carbon, rather than treating adaptation as a follow up conversation once mitigation targets are settled.

With a new government now setting its priorities, the opportunity to embed that principle across policy is real. That government is led, for the first time, by a former mayor, and as Prime Minister Andy Burnham brings regional mayors into the newly revived National Economic Council, there is a genuine chance to turn heat resilience from a patchwork of local responses into a national mission.Burnham has seen the impacts before: as Mayor of Greater Manchester in 2018, Burnham visited crews fighting the Saddleworth Moor wildfires and had to press central government for air support and for assistance with the response costs.I would love to see the regional Mayors work together on preparing for the effects of extreme heat at a national scale now that one of their own leads the Government, rather than each simply reacting once a heatwave hits. Leaders met at the Council’s first sitting last week; I hope heat resilience was firmly on the agenda, and that it becomes part of the Government’s ten-year plan for growth.

The evidence is no longer the barrier. What is needed now is the cooperation between and within government and industry to act on it.

As , the new Prime Minister has said much about a politics rooted in place but little yet about the climate crisis, when its impact on the places we live should make this an urgent priority. Failing to close that gap would mean another parliament in which resilience investment continues to lag behind mitigation, planned and funded as though the two were unrelated. UKGBC’s Roadmaps exist to close that gap, and the BuildingLife Campaign exists to turn that evidence and ambition into policy change before the window for avoiding additional harm narrows further.

Building resilience into today’s decisions is not an additional cost, but rather the foundation of long-term economic security. The evidence is no longer the barrier. What is needed now is the cooperation between and within government and industry to act on it.

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Regenerative Places Consultation Launch /events/regenerative-places-consultation-launch/ Thu, 14 May 2026 10:53:49 +0000 /?post_type=event&p=70337 We invite you to respond to our consultation on our new Regenerative Places Framework. This webinar will provide you with the opportunity to learn more about the Regenerative Places task group, the framework itself and ask questions.

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This event will introduce the Regenerative Places Framework for Housing and invite you to give feedback to ensure it’s clear and widely supported. The Framework explores how we can enable place-based regenerative approaches to home retrofit and new housing, catalysing long-term economic, social and ecological benefits.

In this webinar, we’ll walk you through the proposal and the key questions we’re seeking feedback on. This is your chance to help shape the future of the industry.

Why Attend?

Hear about

the Regenerative Places Framework from the team who is writing and developing it.

Get clarity

on what’s being proposed and how to give feedback.

Discover

how to contribute to its finalisation and be part of our regenerative places work going forward.

Who Should Attend?

This event is designed for anyone who may be interested in responding to the Regenerative Places Framework consultation, particularly those involved in housing development or retrofit. It is an opportunity for all built environment stakeholders to provide feedback. We encourage anyone with an interest in regenerative design in the built environment to join this webinar and respond to the consultation, from experienced professionals to those with a general interest.

WITH THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

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UKGBC Launches #BuildingLife Roadmap Ambassadors Campaign /news/ukgbc-launches-buildinglife-roadmap-ambassadors-campaign/ Thu, 14 May 2026 08:47:09 +0000 /?post_type=news&p=70345 Introducing UKGBC’s #BuildingLife Roadmap Ambassadors, uniting industry and policy leaders to accelerate action on whole life carbon and climate resilience across the built environment.

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Ƶ launching today the Roadmaps Ambassador Campaign,a collective effortfrom industry leaders and policymakersto support the adoption of theNet Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmapand theUK Climate Resilience Roadmapacross the built environment sector.

UKGBC’s Roadmaps guide thebuilt environmentsector in building a low carbon, resilient and regenerative built environment at the pacerequiredto meet climate targets. Adopting the roadmaps more widely will help deliver a sustainable built environment that protects lives, homes, jobs,communitiesand nature.

Why Now?

Findings from theWhole Life Carbon Roadmap Progress Reportshow that the built environment is dangerouslybehind ondecarbonisation.Since 2018, emissions in the built environment have fallen by just 14% against the 24% needed.The evidence is clear:systemicacceleration isrequired.

This campaign,part ofWorldGBC’s#BuildingLife initiative,isworking across Europe toeliminateemissions across the full lifecycle of buildings and deliver a climate-neutral built environment. It directly supportsWorldGBC’sinitiative which aims to promote a whole life carbon approach across 12 counties and supports the global ambition of making near-zero and resilient buildings the norm by 2030

commercial retrofit

Paul Cahalan, Associate Director of Membership, Marketing and Communications said:

“This campaign comes at a critical time for the sectoramid a rapidly changing climateand bringstogether industry and political voices to take the key messages from the two roadmaps deeper into industry and policy conversations. Though greater adoption,industryand policymakerscanuse the roadmaps to helpcreate a low carbon, resilient and regenerative built environment.”

The following individuals have joined the campaign as Roadmap Ambassadors:

  • Will Arnold, Head of Sustainable Materials, Useful Simple Trust.
  • Ashley Bateson, Director & Head of Sustainability, Hoare Lea.
  • Louise Clarke, Group Head of Sustainability, Berkeley Group PLC.
  • Georgia Elliott-Smith, Founder & Director, Fighting Dirty | Sustainability Director, Elliott Wood.
  • Emma Howard Boyd CBE, Chair, National Heat Risk Commission | Chair – ClientEarth Group Board | Co-Chair, HERA (formerly Climate Resilience for All)
  • Stephen Good, CEO, Built Environment – Smarter Transformation.
  • Douglas Morrison, Deputy CEO, Built Environment – Smarter Transformation.
  • Chinyelu Oranefo, Managing Director, Sustainability Advisory, Real Estate & Housing, Lloyds Corporate & Institutional.
  • Duncan Price, Partner, Sustainability, Buro Happold.
  • Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, OBE, Former UK Energy Minister, Chair of the Climate Action Coalition, Working Group Chair – UK Transition Finance Council.
  • Simon Sturgis, Founder, Targeting Zero
  • Katherine Willis, Baroness Willis of Summertown, Principal, St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford | Professor of Biodiversity in the Department of Biology, University of Oxford | Cross-Bench Peer, House of Lords | Founder and Director, NatCap Research LTD.

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Energy and Carbon Forum /get-involved/energy-and-carbon-forum/ Wed, 25 Mar 2026 15:11:41 +0000 /?post_type=get-involved&p=69685 The Energy and Carbon Forum brings together industry professionals who are actively working on delivering net-zero outcomes to share learnings and find solutions.

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The Energy and Carbon Forum will focus on discussions around how to deliver net zero outcomes, touching on topics such as implementing whole life carbon reduction strategies, designing for the future energy grid, scaling low carbon materials and embedding resilience across projects.

The first session will shape the programme for the remaining five sessions, identifying priority topics to explore in depth and giving members the opportunity to become a chair for the upcoming sessions.

The forum will start 19th May and run every six weeks, finishing next spring. By signing up to this first session, members will be enrolling for the whole duration of the forum.

We will host three special sessions on financial value, supply chain engagement and nature. Other members will be able to join these sessions as one-offs, depending on which topic is most interesting to them. Specific dates will be announced soon.

Who Should Sign Up?

The UKGBC Energy & Carbon Forum is open to individuals from UKGBC member organisations who have demonstrable knowledge or practical experience in energy and carbon. Participants are expected to actively contribute to discussions by sharing insights, challenges and best practices, while also representing their organisationtion’s work and perspective on the topic.

This forum will be particularly appealing to Building Developers, Building Owners, Building Systems Engineers (M+E), Architects, Occupiers, Asset Managers, Energy Providers and Project Managers.

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‘Built environment is ‘dangerously behind’ in helping UK meet its carbon targets, UKGBC report warns /news/ukgbc-launches-2025-whole-life-carbon-progress-report/ Tue, 17 Mar 2026 10:02:31 +0000 /?post_type=news&p=69521 New analysis from our Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap Progress Report has revealed emissions from buildings and infrastructure have fallen by barely half required to meet carbon cutting targets.

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New analysis from our latest Whole Life Carbon Roadmap Progress Report has revealed emissions from buildings and infrastructure have fallen by barely half required to meet carbon cutting targets.

The report warns the UK’s built environment, the country’s second-largest source of carbon emissions, is falling dangerously behind the pace required to help meet the UK’s net zero commitment, as defined in theUKGBC’s Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap.

The report shows carbon emissions falling by 14 per cent since 2018 against the 24 per cent reduction required in the roadmap. It means that, with its current trajectory, the industry is cutting carbon at around half the speed needed – a gap of around 20 MtCO₂e each year, or equivalent to the emissions of heating nine million homes for a year.

To get back on track, the sector must now deliver a further 35MtCO₂ereduction by 2027, meaning emissions cuts will need to happen more than three times faster than they have so far.

Launched in 2021,theUKGBC’s Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap, sets out the UK’s pathway to net zero across operational and embodied carbon emissions from buildings and infrastructure. The latest progress report shows where the sector is accelerating and where it is falling behind in helping the UK reach its net zero target.

Operational emissions are falling through better energy efficiency and wider use of low-carbon technologies, the report showed. However, slower progress in embodied carbon reduction is cancelling out those gains.

The report also warned delays in decarbonising the electricity grid were undermining the shift to electrified heat and transport.

The findings come a week after the launch of the , the first unified, science-based method for defining and verifying net zero buildings, including mandatory limits on operational and embodied carbon. The UKGBC will also update its Whole Life Carbon Framework Definition this spring, further strengthening consistency across whole-life carbon assessment. Together, these developments and the publication of the Progress Report, provide the industry with clear evidence base and direction for future investment, design and regulation.

Simon McWhirter, Chief Executive of UKGBC, said:

The UK’s buildings are now dangerously behind in meeting our climate targets, and this new analysis shows just how stark the challenge has become. We are cutting carbon at less than half the pace required and every year we fall further behind, the harder and more expensive it becomes to catch up.

We simply cannot afford to lock in another generation of high-carbon homes, offices and infrastructure. With the right policies and decisive action from government and industry, we can still turn this around, but the window is closing fast.”

Yetunde Abdul, Director of Industry Transformation at UKGBC, said:

The built environment is the UK’s second largest source of emissions, and the solutions are available today. What we need now is consistent policy, mandatory whole life carbon regulation and sustained investment to unlock change at scale. Incremental progress will not be enough; this requires systemic transformation.

The report concludes that while progress has been made since 2018, it falls short of what is required. With no scope to delay progress towards 2050, rapid and coordinated action from industry and government is now essential. UKGBC will continue to convene members, provide evidence-based tools and work with policymakers to accelerate delivery at the pace and scale required.”

This project is part of  collaboration, supported by the  aԻ . 

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Whole Life Carbon Roadmap Progress Report 2025 /resources/whole-life-carbon-progress-report-2025/ Tue, 17 Mar 2026 09:53:57 +0000 /?post_type=resource&p=69366 An update on the built environment sector’s progress towards meeting our net zero trajectory, launched at COP26 in 2021.

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UKGBC’s Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap for the Built Environment, published in 2021, was the first industry-led effort to develop a pathway to Net Zero for buildings and infrastructure in the UK. It identified the rapid and consistent actions needed to realise the 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (compared to 1990) required en route to near net zero emissions by 2050. This included both future-facing policy reforms and engagement from all sectors of the UK construction industry.

This report reviews progress in the six years following the 2018 baseline of the Roadmap. It presents the operational carbon, embodied carbon, and F-gar emissions of the entire UK domestic, non-domestic, and infrastructure stock based on reported data, for comparison against the progress determined to be necessary by the original roadmap.

Key findings from the Progress Report

The UK built environment is failing to decarbonise at the pace required.

Emissions have fallen by just 14% since 2018, far short of the 24% reduction required by 2024.

The next two years are make-or-break.

To recover lost ground by 2027, emissions must fall more than three times faster than they have to date.

Embodied carbon remains the biggest blind spot.

Instead of falling, embodied emissions have risen since 2018, showing that current construction practices are incompatible with net zero.

Policy intent is no longer enough.

Momentum is returning, but without decisive regulation and rapid delivery, ambition will not translate into emissions reductions.

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Unpacking the Warm Homes Plan: Member Town Hall and Discussion /events/unpacking-the-warm-homes-plan-member-town-hall-and-discussion/ Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:03:12 +0000 /?post_type=event&p=68096 Join us for this interactive town hall to unpack and share insights on the Government’s new Warm Homes Plan.

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About

UKGBC has long called for a comprehensive ten-year retrofit strategy to end stop-start policy, build industry confidence, scale supply chains, and coordinate local action nationally. We have been working actively to influence the plan and when it arrives this autumn, we want to hear from you.   

The UK Government’s long-awaited Warm Homes and Buildings Plan is set to be a major milestone for the decarbonisation and future-proofing of the UK’s building stock. But will it deliver the long-term vision, investment, and certainty the sector needs? Will it go far enough on net zero, affordability, and resilience, or will it leave critical gaps?  

In anticipation of the Government’s upcoming Warm Homes Plan, Ƶ hosting an interactive member town hall that will bring members together to unpack the government’s new plan, share insights, and shape our continued collective advocacy. We want to hear from you and explore what’s promising, what’s missing, and what needs improving to ensure the new national retrofit strategy truly delivers for people, industry, and the planet. 

Who should attend?

This session is for all UKGBC members with an interest in retrofit, home energy efficiency, and policy engagement – from manufacturers, local authorities, and housing providers, to supply chain, finance, and professional services.  

Why attend?

Understand

the Warm Homes and Buildings Plan with a clear overview

Share

your insights on what’s strong, what’s missing, and where more ambition is needed

Connect

with others and exchange views across industry in an open solutions-focused discussion

Shape

UKGBC’s advocacy to strengthen our voice in government
Come ready to compare notes, challenge ideas, and help shape the next chapter of the UK’s retrofit journey.

Speaker and guests

  • Jessica Skilbeck, Director, Net Zero Buildings at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
  • Rachael Owens, Co-Director, National Retrofit Hub.
  • David Adams, Senior Net Zero Consultant, Ƶ.

UKGBC cancellation and refund policy

Please see our website for more details on our cancellations and refunds: /ukgbc-cancellation-and-refund-policy/

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What is Operational Carbon in buildings? /news/what-is-operational-carbon-in-buildings/ Fri, 24 Jan 2025 09:00:00 +0000 /?post_type=news&p=63104 Operational Carbon vs. Embodied Carbon Our buildings are responsible for two types of emissions: operational…

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Operational Carbon vs. Embodied Carbon

Our buildings are responsible for two types of emissions: operational and embodied. Operational carbon is the carbon emitted through the day-to-day activities of a building – whether that’s heating, cooling or ventilation, the running of key infrastructure like lifts or the powering of electronics and appliances. Simply put, operational carbon is what keeps a building’s lights on. 

Embodied carbon, on the other hand, is all the other carbon emitted by a building over its life cycle, including sourcing its materials, the construction process and, finally, demolition. This blog is going to focus on how we can reduce our operational emissions, but you can learn more about embodied carbon here.  

in 2018 71% of the UK built environment’s carbon footprint came from its operational emissions

Why do we need to reduce Operational Carbon and what are its main causes? 

As of 2018, according to UKGBC’s Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap, 71% of the UK built environment’s carbon footprint came from its operational emissions. Operating our offices, shops and other non-domestic buildings emitted 39.7 MtCO2e, with our homes having an even larger impact at 84.8 MtCO2e. To put these emissions in context, just operating the UK’s buildings puts as much carbon into the atmosphere as burning each year. The main causes of these emissions are:

Fossil fuel heating in both homes and businesses

Fossil fuel driven electricity powering lights and appliances

Inefficient buildings that leak valuable energy – particularly in winter.

With a rapidly changing climate, we have a responsibility to reduce these emissions – and the good news is that the solutions are already out there. We just need to mobilise our industry and policymakers to roll-out at scale. 

Learn more about reducing reliance on fossil fuel powered electricity here.  

Reducing operational carbon in different building types 

Operational Carbon - home with solar panels and a heat pump uk.

Existing Homes

We can reduce operational energy use in existing homes in three main ways:  

Insulation: The more efficient a building, the less energy it needs to keep warm and safe. We primarily improve a home’s efficiency through insulation in areas like: cavity walls, underfloor recesses and the roof. Additional efficiency measures like double glazed windows also help reduce precious heat leaching from a home, and reduce the energy needed to keep it warm.

Switching to Electric Heating: 85% of UK homes use a gas-boiler for heating. Switching to an electricity powered heat pump is an opportunity for millions to move away from burning fossil fuels and drastically reduce their carbon footprint.

Using Renewable Energy: Where possible, homes should seek to use renewable energy to power their electricity – whether that’s through renewable tariffs or on-site generation like roof-top solar panels.

Learn more about retrofitting existing homes to be friendlier to the planet here.  

Existing Non-Domestic Buildings

We can reduce operational energy use in existing non-domestic buildings by:  

Moving away from Fossil Fuel heating: As of 2018, 66% of commercial buildings’ emissions were from heating – by switching to electric systems non-domestic spaces can drastically reduce their impact on the environment.

Introducing Building Performance Targets: Having targets for non-domestic buildings to improve their energy efficiency that include mandatory disclosure of their performance would galvanise action in this sector. Further building these targets into legal and commercial frameworks would raise the standard for buildings – ensuring all non-domestic buildings were having a limited impact on the environment.

Embracing on-site Renewables: Many non-domestic developments such as warehouses, factories and shopping centers have large flat roofs that are ideal for solar PV.

New Buildings

We can reduce operational energy use in new buildings by:  

Putting energy efficiency first: All new buildings should be built with their energy performance in mind, ensuring that they are built as efficiently as possible to reduce future carbon emissions. This doesn’t just mean designing a home to keep it warm, but also designing it to keep it cool – so that extra energy won’t be needed for air conditioning in the future.

Prioritising electricity: Of course, this means designing with a heat pump from the start and building solar panels into the roof, but it can also mean building in smart features that automatically save electricity.

Learn more about standards for building new homes with low carbon emissions here.

What is industry already doing?

Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard

Launched in late 2024, the aims to create a robust, universal standard for all building types that allows industry to prove their projects are net zero and in line with the UK’s climate targets. As part of this standard, limits are set for the operational energy use in buildings and targets for on-site renewable energy generation. These limits are encouraging asset designers, builders and owners to considerably reduce their operational energy use in order to meet Net Zero.  

What is UKGBC doing about Operational Carbon?

Our team has long been working on projects related to helping industry reduce operational carbon emissions in both new and existing buildings. Some key activities include:  

Renewable Energy Procurement: This work stream gives asset owners clear guidance on how to procure renewable energy and gives guidance on how to reimagine energy use and a flexible grid as we shift towards on-site generation and away from fossil fuels. Learn more here.

Retrofit: Reducing energy use in existing homes through energy efficiency improvements has been a long-term aim for UKGBC. We work with both national and local policy makers to implement programmes that lead to the retrofit of homes to keep them safe, warm and cheap to run. In fact, home retrofit is a great example of climate friendly fixes – like reducing operational carbon – having positive social, health and financial benefits too. Learn more here.

Operational Optimisation Labs: Throughout 2024 and 2025, UKGBC has been working to understand how optimising commercial buildings can reduce operational carbon emissions. Optimising a building, as opposed to undertaking a deep retrofit, is unobtrusive and can still lead to considerable carbon reductions without a building being taken out of us. The final outcome of this project will be launched in the spring, and you can find out more about the project and its supporters here.

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