Consultant calls for labelling scheme and tax incentives to promote ethical practices

The construction industry is inadvertently funding child labour and conflict abroad, a senior consultant has warned. He called on QSs and project managers to get up to speed on the true origins of the construction products they procure.

Materials such as copper and plastics often originate from countries suffering under corrupt regimes, said Dr Steve Mustow, regional director at White Young Green, Leeds. Copper, lead, tin and zinc, for example, are mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where civil and international war has been funded by the country's mineral resources. The country is now in the grip of a humanitarian crisis.

"PMs and QSs are pretty well aware of the situation with timber, but I would suggest they are less aware of the ethical issues involving other materials," said Mustow. He conceded QSs and PMs were only partly to blame since more research was needed into the ethics of construction products.

He also called for a string of regulatory steps to promote a more ethical approach to procurement.

He said the EU's construction products directive should be expanded as it currently only covers a limited number of ethical issues. To achieve this, clearer definitions of unethical products would have to be drawn up by the industry and independent bodies, such as BREEAM.

Mustow said there was an "urgent need" for an independent review of the ethical performance of product suppliers. He said a potential problem could be that information would have to be supplied by the suppliers themselves. "Awareness among construction product suppliers is not very great, the supply chain can be very long. Their worry is going to be ‘how much is this red tape and regulation going to cost us?'"

An ethical labelling scheme could help, Mustow added. Products could be graded based on their impact on national economies, human rights, and animal protection issues. The system would mirror existing environmental labelling schemes.

Mustow finally called for fiscal incentives to encourage the construction industry to use ethically sound products. This could take the form of higher taxes on less ethical products.

WYG recently launched a Sustainability Bureau to advise clients and competitors on ethical and environmental issues.

Mustow is publishing a paper on ethical procurement in the Engineering Sustainability journal this month.

Mustow’s plan to promote

    Expansion of the construction products directive
  • Independent review of product suppliers

  • Ethical labelling schemes

  • Fiscal incentives

Potential to make a difference

  • Global construction industry is worth $3.2tr (£1.84tr)

  • Global trade in construction materials and products is worth $305bn.

  • Construction accounts for 40% of the total flow of materials into the global economy every year.

  • The majority of construction materials are stone, gravel, sand, clay and iron ore.

  • Construction and operation of buildings accounts for 25% of all virgin wood use.

  • UK construction consumes six tonnes of materials per head of population each year.

  • UK construction produces 70m tonnes of a waste a year.

Source

QS News