Material giants working on new embodied energy standard

Material groups Aggregate Industries and Marshals are to work out the embodied carbon in their producst as part of a new carbon foot printing standard.

The Carbon Trust, Defra and BSI British standards have collaborated on the benchmark, which is based on a method for measuring the embodied greenhouse gas emissions from products and services across their lifecycle and will be applicable to a wide range of sectors and product categories. They are also looking at the most effective way of communicating this to consumers.

The materials groups will focus on hard landscaping products initially. This will include flagstones, block-paving, walling, road masonry and paving stones. It is hoped that with development of the standard will come inclusion of more products across a wider range of companies.

Dr Miles Watkins, director of group environmental and corporate social responsibility at Aggregate Industries, said, “Sustainability is a core priority for Aggregate Industries and as part of the continual improvement of our business we are taking major steps to address this issue.”

Marketing Director at Marshalls Plc, Chris Harrop, said, “As a leader in our industry, we have been managing and reducing our carbon impact as a corporate objective since 2002 and earlier this year Marshalls launched the industries first ever carbon calculator. A single methodology and defined labeling scheme across all industries is key to accelerating consumer confidence and acceptance.”

The Carbon Trust launched the carbon reduction label in March 2007 with Walkers, Boots, and innocent, to communicate the embodied emissions of their products and a commitment to reduce their product’s emissions over a two year period. If the emissions are not reduced over this period the label will be removed.