Galliford Try committed to achieving Net Zero carbon by 2030

Galliford Try, one of the UK’s leading construction groups, has pledged to achieve Net Zero carbon across its own operations by 2030, and Net Zero across all activities by 2045 at the latest.

As a progressive business, committed to doing the right thing, Galliford Try recognises the urgency of the climate change agenda and champions the role it has to play in decarbonising the economy for a greener, more sustainable future.

To provide a clear route to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Group has committed to achieving a verifiable science-based target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). In doing so, Galliford Try has joined the Business Ambition for 1.5°C to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and the UN-backed campaign Race to Zero.

Sustainability, including decarbonisation, is at the heart of Galliford Try’s strategy and further details will be provided with the Group’s annual results announcement in September 2021. Its work across sustainable business practice has contributed to its place as a sector-leading member of the FTSE4Good Index, an Environmental, Social and Governance benchmarking series.

Update on Net Zero progress

Galliford Try is already well advanced on its carbon reduction journey across its own operations, having reduced carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (Scope 1, 2 and operational Scope 3) by 62% from 2012 to 2020. The business has voluntarily reported its direct greenhouse gas emissions since 2012 and had them verified to ISO 14064-1, an international standard for the reporting and removal of greenhouse gas emissions that contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals for Climate Action.

Galliford Try’s success in significantly cutting emissions to date has been achieved through a focus on the areas that contribute to the majority of its own carbon emissions, including:

• Using renewable energy sources, where possible, for permanent offices and supporting electric vehicle use with charging points at its workplaces.
• Encouraging the use of electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, which currently represent 36% of the total vehicle fleet and have helped reduce average carbon emissions across the company fleet from 133g/km in 2011 to 86g/km in 2020.
• Promoting the use of electric and alternatively-fuelled plant on sites.
• Earlier grid connections to minimise diesel use on projects.
• Operating an Agile Working policy since 2018 and maximising the use of technology to reduce travel and improve work-life balance.

The Group is confident about achieving Net Zero across its own operations by 2030 through further reduction measures, many of which are aligned to the Construction Leadership Council’s CO2nstruct Zero priorities.

The Group’s ongoing focus on digitalisation, where it has award-winning technical services such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) capability, will be a major enabler of designing buildings and infrastructure with lower emissions and reduced whole-life carbon.

Bill Hocking, Chief Executive of Galliford Try, commented:

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges we face as a society and we are determined to play our part in minimising our own carbon footprint and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the buildings, infrastructure and services we provide. We are already well-progressed on our carbon journey and are working with clients and suppliers to achieve Net Zero carbon ahead of the UK’s target date. We are leading the way with research projects such as the re-engineering and analysis of our Optimum Schools solution that has allowed us to benchmark and provide solutions that reduce both operational and embodied carbon. This capability enables us to offer our clients carbon advice across the lifecycle of any project in our chosen sectors, working closely with our aligned supply chain partners, innovators and clients.

“We are pleased to have made this latest step on our carbon journey and we look forward to delivering on our ambitions.”