The construction sector consumes about half of all steel and almost all cement produced globally. The sector is far from reaching the climate targets. The public sector is a major developer, and public actors such as municipalities stand at a pivotal crossroads to influence emissions from the construction sector.
Public sector is a major developer
Public procurement accounts for around 20% of Finland’s GDP, and thus plays an important role as a catalyst for new investment. Public infrastructure projects such as new railways, bridges and roads consume whopping volumes of steel and cement. Shifting public procurement towards low-carbon materials can decrease the cost of these materials to other end-users and nudge industries to scale-up production of low-carbon materials.
Emissions from the construction sector must be halved by 2030
Significant investments in new production technologies are needed to reduce emissions from steel and concrete. This means risks for producers and higher costs for buyers. Lead markets create demand for new products in order to scale up their production. Through the generation of lead-markets the demand for low-emission steel and concrete can be increased, reducing the risks of investing in low-emission production and accelerating the supply of these materials in the market.
Our Impact
We lobby municipal decision-makers and monitor the development of national and EU level legislation. We work actively in Nordic and wider European networks. For instance, we are part of a Nordic coordination coalition on industrial green transition, which promotes the scale-up of low emission building materials by harmonising regulation and emission calculation.