Carbon Emissions Performance and the UK Highway Maintenance Sector: a Review of the Issues

Currently in the United Kingdom (UK), carbon emissions performance and other sustainability issues are being considered as contractual requirements and a major part of the tender selection criteria for highway construction and maintenance projects, with the intention of delivering a low-carbon service. This inherently presents business opportunities and risks; which can be poorly understood by the highway maintenance stakeholders including their supply chain. Having an in-depth understanding of the carbon emissions performance from highway maintenance operations within the context of their drivers, approach and business benefits can provide highway providers, managers, designers, maintainers and contractors with a robust knowledge framework to support business investment decision-making. This can also support businesses in developing a robust corporate strategy to manage the risks and opportunities that businesses are expected to manage and meet the objective of the low-carbon agenda, whilst enhancing business competiveness. The purpose of this paper is to provide a knowledge framework that can facilitate carbon emissions performance, and promotes project-based carbon footprinting methodology for carbon consideration in highway maintenance decision-making processes. The paper presents key definitions of highway maintenance carbon emissions assessment and performance, a review of regulatory and non-regulatory drivers focusing on the existing and emerging international and UK-based policy frameworks and initiatives on climate change and carbon footprinting. The carbon emissions reduction guidance, opportunities and inherent issues presented by civil infrastructure including the highway maintenance sector are explored. A brief overview of pavement materials embodied carbon sources, and discussion on carbon emissions reduction issues are also provided. The paper concludes that the availability of a carbon evaluation tool underpinned by sound methodology and complementary study outputs, and emissions data and collection approach are essential for organisations to develop a corporate strategy to enhance carbon emissions performance. Although, emphasis within the paper focuses on the highway maintenance business sector, the knowledge framework can also be utilised by other sectors within the built environment as an information source to improving their carbon emissions performance.