When one thinks about carbon emissions, pictures of spewing smokestacks or tailpipes possible come to thoughts. However there’s a air pollution downside hidden within the constructed atmosphere round us, from the buildings we dwell in to the roads we drive on.
One-seventh of the world’s carbon emissions are related to constructing supplies like metal, cement and aluminum. And globally, most firms that make these merchandise aren’t on monitor to hit net-zero emissions by 2050. Put merely, there’s a construction-shaped gap in our international efforts to fight local weather change.
Fortuitously, options exist. Metal may be made with out coal in an electrical arc furnace. Cement and concrete may be made with lower-carbon fuels. In truth, many cleaner constructing supplies are already out there at little or no further price. And there are a variety of recent applied sciences — similar to clear hydrogen for metal and carbon seize, utilization and storage for cement — simply across the nook that would cut back the carbon footprint of those supplies to virtually zero. The issue is that many are prone to price extra than the dirtier options, which might maintain up growth and adoption.
The excellent news is that Canadian governments have the ability to speed up the shift to cleaner development supplies. And so they can do it whereas supporting Canadian industries and employees.
Governments are among the many largest patrons of constructing supplies in Canada. And by procuring development merchandise with a decrease carbon footprint, governments can successfully assist a large marketplace for clear constructing merchandise. This strategy is known as “Purchase Clear,” and it’s taking maintain all over the world, from the Netherlands to California.
The federal authorities is already on board, having introduced its Greening Authorities Technique to reveal and cut back the carbon emissions related to constructing supplies in federal initiatives, like ports or authorities buildings. Whereas it is a good begin, a brand new report from Clear Vitality Canada and International Effectivity Intelligence, Cash Talks, discovered that such federal buying makes up simply 4 per cent of all public spending and fewer than one per cent of all infrastructure spending in Canada. The truth is that the heft of Canada’s public infrastructure spending rests with provinces, municipalities and Crown companies.
Put collectively, the Canadian public sector makes up round a fifth of all infrastructure spending within the nation. The manufacturing of supplies utilized in public infrastructure creates at the very least eight million tonnes of carbon emissions yearly — equal to the air pollution attributable to 1.7 million gas-fuelled automobiles. When non-public development is included, the determine rises to virtually 28 million tonnes yearly — 50 per cent of Canada’s electrical energy era emissions.
By introducing an formidable and really nationwide Purchase Clear coverage that spans all ranges of presidency, Canada might keep away from as much as half of those emissions by 2030. And since the general public sector has such important shopping for energy, Purchase Clear would possible have spillover results into the remainder of the market. Certainly, the extra governments demand low-carbon merchandise by way of their buying, the extra incentive the non-public sector has to channel sources into creating and producing them. That, in flip, helps decrease prices, making cleaner merchandise extra aggressive with their dirtier counterparts.
In truth, if governments and the non-public sector opted to ramp up low-carbon necessities to solely purchase supplies with a 50 per cent smaller carbon footprint by 2030, the cumulative whole emissions financial savings throughout the entire market could be as a lot as 75 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between now and the top of the last decade. That’s roughly equal to taking all of the passenger autos off Canada’s roads for a whole yr.
A Purchase Clear strategy additionally has the added benefit of supporting lots of Canada’s already main low-carbon industries. Canada’s electrical energy grid is among the many cleanest on the earth, that means that merchandise made utilizing that electrical energy are additionally low-carbon. Consequently, Canada produces a number of the world’s cleanest aluminum and metal. Canada’s cement and concrete business has made formidable commitments to scale back emissions to net-zero. And provinces like B.C. and Ontario have huge potential for a sustainable mass timber development business.
The chance is such {that a} group of business associations — representing cement, metal, aluminum and forestry — and labour and the environmental teams have joined forces to kind a Purchase Clear Alliance, calling for the federal authorities to launch an formidable and totally funded nationwide Purchase Clear technique.
Canada additionally punches above its weight in cleantech, with firms like Montreal-based CarbiCrete, whose expertise can create “carbon-negative” concrete, or Alberta-based Carbon Upcycling, which is utilizing waste glass to make cleaner cement. And with 137 nations masking 91 per cent of the world’s GDP dedicated to reaching net-zero by 2050, the long run marketplace for low-carbon supplies is probably huge. The extra Canadian industries are incentivized to provide cleaner merchandise, the extra they will develop and compete in a world that’s kicking carbon.
In brief, Purchase Clear is sweet for the local weather and good for enterprise, however provided that Canada successfully leverages its full public buying energy. To take action, it should mandate Purchase Clear necessities throughout the entire federal authorities — together with federal investments in provincial infrastructure. And it should reform constructing codes to include low-carbon necessities whereas additionally funding applications to check and innovate even cleaner development options. This ought to be supported by a devoted group that may provide assist to all ranges of presidency — from provinces to municipalities — to get on board with Purchase Clear.
It’s time for Canada to construct higher.
This publish was co-authored by Felix Whitton and initially appeared in Canada’s Nationwide Observer.
