Construction Climate Challenge funds new environmental research

The Construction Climate Challenge initiative (CCC), which promotes sustainability throughout the entire construction industry, has awarded funding to two innovative research projects that intend to reduce climate impact in construction. The chosen projects are the Implementation of Procurement Requirements for Sustainable Collaboration in Infrastructure (Impres) and the Carbon Infrastructure Transformation Tool (CITT) from the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology and the University of Edinburgh Business School, respectively.

The CCC has been funding research studies since 2014, and in spring 2016, the initiative launched a new call for major research projects. By supporting and initiating research projects in relevant areas of construction, the CCC acts as a bridge between the industry and sustainability research.

“Research is an important part of the CCC and can help us to reduce CO2 emissions in the construction industry,” says Dr. Peter Wallin, CCC research manager and technology research manager at Volvo Construction Equipment. “The knowledge that exists today is not enough; we must come up with new solutions and methods on how we can work toward a sustainable future and meet existing challenges.”

The Impres project

The Impres project aims to contribute to a more efficient implementation of policies and goals for reducing climate impact from the infrastructure sector, specifically focusing on procurement requirements and the role of international systems for sustainability assessment. The research project is co-funded by the Swedish research council Formas, through the ProcSIBE project. The project partners are the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Lund University of Sweden, WSP Group and Skanska.

The CITT project

The CITT project is developing a tool for construction companies to identify and reduce carbon in the construction supply chain. The project seeks to advance and implement a tool to aid the alignment of supply chain actors through the efficient design of incentives and the articulation of key carbon management challenges. The tool will demonstrate the embodied carbon and cost impact of each material element used in the creation of an infrastructure asset (identified through the bill of quantities), and will help to drive emission reductions by identifying opportunities to reduce carbon through innovation and supply chain engagement. The research project partners are the University of Edinburgh Business School in Scotland and Costain Group.

Powering social change

“We received inquiries from some of the best universities and research institutes in the world, making it difficult to choose which projects to fund,” concludes Dr. Wallin. “The two we chose are considered to have the greatest global effect. We hope the research projects will increase understanding of the existing challenges within the industry and contribute to a clear guidance for reducing CO2 emissions as well as the necessary steps to reach climate goals.”

More information

The Construction Climate Challenge is an initiative hosted by Volvo Construction Equipment to promote sustainability in construction industry and provide funding for environmental research. The CCC is part of the Volvo Construction Equipment commitment to WWF’s Climate Savers Program. Volvo Construction Equipment is a Corporate Advisory Board member of the World Green Building Council.

Please visit: http://constructionclimatechallenge.com/