Industry leaders and experts highlight the importance of transforming logistics and adopting comprehensive carbon assessment standards to meet ambitious housing and decarbonisation goals.
Tom Harrison, group strategic accounts director at ports operator Peel Ports Group, warns that construction’s drive to cut carbon cannot remain confined to onsite measures alone. The sector’s upstream emissions , from material sourcing and movement , are an increasingly important battleground if the industry is to meet ambitious housing and net‑zero targets.
The Environmental Audit Committee’s recent report challenges the familiar claim that environmental protections necessarily slow housing delivery and signals that whole‑life carbon must be central to growth plans. According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), its 2025 Sustainability Report found a worrying lack of measurement: roughly 46 per cent of construction professionals are not measuring embodied carbon, and only a small minority say carbon assessment meaningfully influences material choice. RICS has welcomed the EAC’s call for stronger whole‑life carbon standards to align housing ambitions with net‑zero commitments.
Much of the problem lies in logistics. Industry analysis and practitioners point out that a large share of a project’s carbon footprint is locked in before the first brick is laid: production, transport and handling of materials contribute heavily to embodied emissions. The UK Green Building Council has previously estimated embodied carbon at around one in 10 tonnes of national greenhouse gas emissions, a figure that exceeds emissions from aviation and shipping combined. In that context, Tom Harrison’s assertion that “A 1,700‑tonne barge on the Thames removes more than 50 HGVs from local roads” underlines a simple, practical lever: shifting freight from road to water can cut emissions, reduce congestion and ease pressure on scarce driver capacity.
There are established, standardised tools that the sector can deploy to make these gains measurable and comparable. RICS has updated its Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) standard to a global edition, providing a framework to quantify emissions across an asset’s lifecycle. Industrywide efforts such as the International Construction Measurement Standards’ ICMS 3 seek to bring consistent lifecycle carbon reporting across borders and asset types, supporting sustainable investment decisions. According to RICS, these frameworks are designed to be comprehensive, data‑driven and aligned with policy aims, but uptake remains uneven.
Practical logistics changes already demonstrate immediate benefits. Coordinated use of ports, barges and inland waterways can consolidate material flows, shorten delivery distances and reduce double‑handling. That integration requires closer collaboration between ports, barge operators and construction firms so programme sequencing and volume requirements are aligned with transport capacity. The payoff is not only lower embodied carbon but improved productivity and potentially lower costs, an important consideration as the sector prepares for a renewed cycle of housebuilding and major infrastructure programmes.
However, progress will depend on policy, skills and incentives. RICS’ research highlights a broader slowdown in demand growth for sustainable buildings and an industry skills gap that risks undermining both housing and environmental goals. The organisation and other analysts have argued for clearer government measures , from stronger monitoring and reporting mandates to targeted funding and incentives for retrofit and low‑carbon supply chains , to prevent momentum stalling ahead of 2050 decarbonisation targets.
For construction leaders, the strategic imperative is clear: sustainability must be embedded into the enabling systems that underpin projects, not treated as an afterthought on site. Deploying WLCA and compatible reporting standards, redesigning logistics to favour waterborne and consolidated freight, and building cross‑sector partnerships will be central to turning ambition into measurable reductions. The tools and proven transport modes exist; what is required is industry commitment and policy settings that reward whole‑life carbon savings rather than penalise short‑term delivery metrics.
If the sector accepts that much of a building’s carbon cost is written into supply chains, then rethinking logistics becomes a practical frontline in decarbonisation. Doing so would help meet regulatory expectations, ease local impacts from HGV traffic and deliver the embodied‑carbon reductions that current project‑level initiatives alone are unlikely to achieve.
- https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/supply-chain/logistics-needs-rethinking-to-unlock-real-sustainability-gains-21-01-2026/ – Please view link – unable to able to access data
- https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-welcomes-environmental-audit-committees-call-stronger-whole-life-carbon-standards-deliver-sustainable-housing-growth – The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has welcomed the Environmental Audit Committee’s (EAC) report on Environmental Sustainability and Housing Growth, which highlights the need for increased measurement and reduction of embodied carbon alongside operational emissions to align the UK’s housing ambitions with its net-zero commitments. The EAC report underscores the importance of whole life carbon assessment (WLCA) in delivering environmental sustainability alongside housing growth. RICS’ 2025 Sustainability Report reveals that approximately 46% of construction professionals are not measuring embodied carbon emissions across projects, indicating a significant gap in current practices.
- https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-report-warns-of-sustainability-slowdown-in-global-built-environment – The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has released its 2025 Sustainability Report, revealing a slowdown in global demand growth for sustainable buildings and a concerning lack of progress in carbon measurement across construction projects. The report, based on insights from over 3,500 real estate and construction professionals across 36 countries, warns that momentum behind sustainable development risks stalling without stronger policy intervention and accelerated skills development. Despite continued appetite for green and resilient real estate, demand growth has notably weakened, particularly across the Americas. Europe, the UK, and Asia-Pacific (APAC) have also seen a softening in interest, while regions in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) remain the only markets to show strengthening momentum.
- https://www.rics.org/news-insights/rics-launches-new-global-edition-of-its-ground-breaking-whole-life-carbon-assessment-standard – The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched the second edition of its Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment (WLCA) standard. First published in 2017 for the UK’s built environment sector, this 2023 edition is a global version of the standard that provides a considerably more developed understanding of the carbon costs and benefits of design choices in construction and infrastructure projects and assets. The new standard was produced in partnership with the UK’s Department for Transport and Net Zero Waste Scotland. According to the United Nations, the Built Environment contributes around 40% of all global carbon output and 50% of extracted material, making the second edition crucial for meeting global emissions targets and achieving net zero.
- https://www.rics.org/profession-standards/rics-standards-and-guidance/sector-standards/construction-standards/whole-life-carbon-assessment – The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has developed a Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA) standard to calculate and report carbon emissions over the lifecycle of a built asset. This assessment methodology is based on six key principles: Comprehensive, Data-driven, Consistent, Practical, Aligned, and Integrated. The WLCA standard covers all stages of a built asset’s life, including production, construction, operation, end of life, and beyond asset life. It provides a framework for assessing carbon emissions, enabling professionals to estimate the amount of carbon emitted throughout the life cycle of a constructed asset, from the early stages of development through to the end of life.
- https://www.rics.org/profession-standards/rics-standards-and-guidance/sector-standards/construction-standards/icms3 – The International Cost Management Standard (ICMS) 3, developed by the International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) Coalition, provides a globally consistent method for carbon lifecycle reporting across construction projects, from buildings and bridges to ports and offshore structures. The ICMS 3 standard is a collaboration among 49 prominent professional bodies, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and aims to support sustainable investment strategies by bringing much-needed transparency and cross-border comparability of embodied and operational carbon across the life cycle of construction projects. This standard is crucial for the construction sector to make a measurable impact in combating climate change.
- https://www.rics.org/news-insights/wbef/net-zero-navigating-the-built-environments-route-to-cop28 – The building and construction sector is off-track to achieve decarbonisation by 2050. A recent RICS report suggests that a lack of policy action to monitor building emissions, combined with an absence of government incentives to reduce emissions, are contributing factors. Key recommendations for the UK include setting up a national programme to fund retrofit projects, offering financial incentives for industry and consumers to stimulate improvements in building operations, and making significant improvements to energy efficiency assessments to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of building performance. The report also highlights that around 72% of respondents globally from the construction sector stated they make no measurement of operational carbon across project lifecycles.
Noah Fact Check Pro
The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
8
Notes:
The article was published on 21 January 2026. A search for similar narratives did not reveal any substantially similar content published more than seven days prior. The article references recent reports from the Environmental Audit Committee and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), indicating timely information. However, the article’s reliance on a press release from Peel Ports Group may raise concerns about freshness and originality. Press releases are often disseminated to multiple outlets, which can lead to recycled content. Without independent reporting or additional sources, the freshness score is reduced.
Quotes check
Score:
6
Notes:
The article includes direct quotes attributed to Tom Harrison, group strategic accounts director at Peel Ports Group. A search for these specific quotes did not yield earlier appearances, suggesting they may be original. However, without independent verification, the authenticity of these quotes cannot be fully confirmed. The lack of corroborating sources for these statements raises concerns about their verifiability.
Source reliability
Score:
7
Notes:
The article is published on Construction News, a UK-based industry publication. While it is a reputable source within the construction industry, it is not as widely recognised as major news organisations like the BBC or Reuters. The article heavily relies on a press release from Peel Ports Group, which may indicate a lack of independent reporting. This reliance on a single source without additional independent verification reduces the overall reliability score.
Plausability check
Score:
7
Notes:
The claims made in the article align with known industry trends, such as the emphasis on reducing embodied carbon in construction and the role of logistics in sustainability. The article references recent reports from the Environmental Audit Committee and RICS, lending credibility to the context. However, the lack of independent verification and reliance on a single source for direct quotes raises questions about the accuracy and completeness of the information presented.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): FAIL
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): MEDIUM
Summary:
The article presents information that aligns with known industry trends and references recent reports from reputable organisations. However, the heavy reliance on a press release from Peel Ports Group, a corporate source with a vested interest, and the lack of independent verification from other reputable sources, raise significant concerns about the originality, independence, and reliability of the content. The absence of corroborating sources for key claims and quotes further diminishes the overall credibility of the article.
