Driving the future of green building: unlocking the potential of HVO biodiesel

Achieving the government’s ambitions for growth while tackling climate change will be an enormous challenge over the coming years.

Our sector can play an important role in both areas. For this to be the case - from design through to groundbreaking and beyond final inspection into operation - each project stage needs to be driven by an awareness of carbon impact.

At Berkeley Group, we’ve been looking at the steps we can take to iteratively reduce our energy consumption and emissions from our sites, like early connection to the electricity grid to avoid generators and exploring whether welfare and site offices can be solar-powered.

In 2020, when we set Science Based Targets for the entire business, it became clear that we needed to review the fuel used for site machinery as part of our decarbonisation efforts.

At that time, gas oil was the most significant contributor to our Scope 1 and 2 emissions. We then started to explore Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) as a potential replacement fuel with vastly reduced emissions.

As well as internal change, we work with our contractors to support them as they adopt HVO. Through effective working relationships, we have jointly delivered significant emissions reductions on our projects.

At Westmont at White City Living, a 100% HVO-powered project, contractors Foundation Developments, achieved a carbon reduction of 30.3 tCO₂e, equivalent to eight flights from London to Australia. Similarly, at Regent’s View on the Canal, our contractors have so far procured enough biodiesel to reduce carbon emissions by over 187.3 tCO₂e.

Getting to this point has been a steep learning curve, but our experiences have given us lessons that we feel help others across the sector as they adopt this and other cleaner energy sources.

First, integrating sustainable fuels like HVO requires careful planning - the conversation with the project delivery team needs to start as early as possible. Agreeing on sustainability practices at the tender stage makes success more likely.

In the case of HVO, it allows for costs associated with sourcing and using the fuel to be factored in and ensures that we can identify contractors who have already secured a reliable store of fuel or allow our development team to procure fuels at a scale which keeps our own costs low.

Sustainable sourcing is also key. We’ve spent time identifying the companies that offer sustainable HVO, creating auditing processes to vet our own directly procured HVO and similar processes to monitor and audit the HVO fuel procured by our supply chain.

Secondly, as new materials, components and technologies emerge businesses should be diligent about their own review of available options.

In the early days of using HVO, we had to filter through all the options on the market asking the right questions like; can proof of source be verified, is there documentation for the raw material origin and type and what is the quality and grade of the fuel being offered?

Now the sector is more established, we have been able to put together a much more detailed audit, which we continue to review in line with published Supply Chain Sustainability School guidance. It’s another example of how putting the right processes in place early will serve you well in the long run.

As HVO adoption grows there will be concerns about the unintended consequences for the environment. To mitigate this, at Berkeley Group, we require the use of second-generation HVO, certified through recognised sustainability schemes, such as the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification.

Using certified second-generation HVO made from waste materials such as used cooking oil helps to reduce risks related to food security and land use. Additionally, we ask for the Renewable Fuel Declarations associated with the supply of HVO, to check the feedstock used to produce the fuel and the associated carbon emissions.

Our experiences have shown us the influence we can have on supply chain partners if we communicate the long-term benefits of alternative options effectively, and outline how we can find a practical balance between technical and financial viability issues and the sustainability imperative.

We continue to learn a lot from our peers and construction partners. Not all contractors are equally familiar with newer green options, and some may be hesitant to adopt HVO due to perceived risks or costs. It’s important to identify those companies and allow for further engagement and collaboration.

There is no one solution to greener construction, progress will be determined by thousands of decisions – big and small – at every level of our businesses and projects.

At Berkeley Group, HVO has proven to be an immensely valuable solution across the business and has been a key part of reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 77% as compared to our baseline trend.

Provided we have processes in place to manage and mitigate the potential sustainability risks associated with its supply chain, the integration of HVO fuels will serve as a template for our adoption of future green technologies as we work towards our net zero goals.

Sirio D’Aleo is group senior sustainability manager at Berkeley Group