Carbon reporting
The precast drainage industry understands that the fight against Climate Change cannot be won with questionable carbon data. This is why we have been improving our carbon data collection and reporting mechanism since 2007. As part of the Precast Charter commitment, data is collected annually for all the main carbon emissions associated with the manufacture of precast concrete and across all Scopes. Data on types of cement used is also collected to help monitor total carbon emissions and advise different sectors on annual performance on a regular basis.
For more information on carbon reporting, check the latest Sustainability reports published by the precast concrete sector here.
Embodied carbon
We were one of the first product sectors to publish a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study in 2000 covering concrete pipeline systems compared to other alternatives. In 2011, we published a 3 rd party verified carbon footprint report, to PAS 2050, covering all main concrete pipeline products. In 2017, we published the first UK Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for concrete pipes. The EPD developed used data covering 90% of all precast concrete drainage production in the UK in 2016.
The current precast drainage EPD (based on a DN600 concrete pipe with bedding) can be found here.
The UK Cement and Concrete Industry carbon roadmap
In 2020, the UK’s concrete and cement industry became one of the first sectors in the UK to announce and publish a carbon reduction roadmap with a target to become “Carbon Neatigve” by 2050. The UK Concrete roadmap identifies a wide range of measures and technologies to enable energy efficiency, fuel switching, Carbon Capture, Use and Storage (CCUS) and the use of higher levels of low-carbon cement alternatives in concrete.
For more information about the carbon roadmap, watch this video.
Carbon performance
All precast drainage SuDS components in the UK are manufactured with a DC4 concrete Design Chemical class. Up to 35% of the cement content is base of low-carbon cementitious alternatives such as pulverised fly ash (PFA) or Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS), making the carbon footprint of precast drainage, at 135-145 kg CO 2 e/t, significantly lower than any other alternative material. In 2011, and with the help of consultants Carbon Clear, we carried out a carbon assessment for concrete pipeline systems compared to plastic pipe alternatives. The study used PAS 2050 for guidance and was peer reviewed by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL).
In 2020, we carried out another carbon study with support from Circular Ecology (authors of the ICE Database). That study also found concrete pipes to be superior to plastic alternatives.
More information about our 2020 Carbon Study can be found here.
More information about previous carbon assessment and LCA studies can be found here.
