Climate Action
Objective
Be net zero before 2050
Goals
Cut CO2 by 45% per tonne of product by 2030 (from 1990) *
Be at the forefront of implementing and trialling low CO2 transport and logistics
Manage climate risk at our sites and use our land assets to deploy nature- based solutions to reduce CO2
Collaborate with policy makers, academia, industry and industrial clusters to develop net zero technologies, solutions and enabling policies
“It’s vital that we continue to operate and grow in a sustainable and responsible way. This becomes increasingly important with the climate emergency and wider societal challenges.”
Emma Hines, Sustainability Director
The impact of climate change and the transition to a zero-carbon society are arguably the most important challenges for our generation. The construction sector accounts for over 40% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions and has a pivotal role to play. As society continues its journey to net zero emissions, we are fully committed to playing our part in delivering carbon neutrality along our value chains to support the UK’s net zero target.
Highlights
Carbon targets
Tarmac is a wholly owned subsidiary of CRH plc, a leading provider of building materials solutions. CRH has set an absolute emissions reduction target for 2030. This forms part of its 2050 net zero ambition and is aligned with the goals of The Paris Agreement.
CRH 2030 Target: 30% reduction in absolute group-wide CO2e emissions by 2030 (from a 2021 base year).
To achieve this target, CRH has developed a decarbonisation roadmap to 2030, an important milestone of our strategy towards achieving our ambition to be net zero by 2050. This target applies to gross emissions and covers the total footprint across Scope 1, 2 and 3. It is also inclusive of organic business growth.
In early 2023, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validated the CRH revised targets in line with the updated 1.5°C science-based framework.
CRH has also joined the ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C’ initiative, which aims to achieve net zero global emissions by no later than 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5°C.
What Do We Mean by CO2e?
Carbon dioxide is one of six greenhouse gases that are emitted when humans undertake certain activities. Other greenhouse gases include methane, nitrous oxide and ozone – all of which occur naturally in our atmosphere. To take into account the other greenhouse gases when calculating overall levels of emissions, scientists have devised an equivalent measure – CO2e (which means carbon dioxide equivalent). This converts other greenhouse gases to the equivalent measure of CO2 with the same global warming potential (GWP).
Net Zero Roadmap
Decarbonising our construction materials, road contracting and building products businesses, and providing construction material products, services and solutions that help society and the UK built environment tackle the climate emergency is central to our commercial strategy and corporate purpose.
As a business, aligned with CRH, Tarmac has set a bold target to reduce our absolute CO2e emissions by 30% by 2030. This is a major milestone on our path to net zero by 2050, which is set out in our new Net Zero Roadmap. This target commits us to one of the most ambitious reductions in emissions in the UK construction materials industry and builds on the progress we have made to date in line with Act, our Sustainability strategy.
Investment in plant and equipment
At Tarmac, we continuously invest in our plants and equipment to achieve maximum optimisation and sustainability across our processes.
The largest gyratory crusher in the UK has been installed at our Mountsorrel Quarry in Leicestershire, weighing 1,400 tonnes and standing 44 metres high, with the capability to crush thousands of tonnes of granite per hour. More than 600 people worked to put the crusher in place and it is a great achievement to now see it in operation.
Sonning Quarry near Reading has had an upgrade to its conveyor system to reduce energy consumption. The original conveyor at the site was old and needed replacing - in heavy rain, due to the conveyor’s steep gradient, minerals could sometimes trickle down the conveyor. This led to high downtime due to the spillage and other mechanical issues, affecting the site's production. The new conveyor has eliminated spillage due to poor weather and wet material, and energy consumption has been reduced as a separate conveyor and motor was removed. This change has helped the site to reduce energy consumption by 12kWh. This has resulted in a cost saving and an increase in production.
We are continuing to implement the switch of electric water pumps at our quarries where possible. Our Tyttenhanger Quarry in Hertfordshire replaced its diesel pump for an electric pump in 2023, reducing its energy consumption by 35kWh. These changes are offering a significant cost, carbon and energy saving.
Energy efficiency
We believe that improving energy efficiency and optimising plant performance is essential to reduce CO2 emissions. We use our ISO 50001-certified Energy Management System to drive continuous improvement in energy, set specific energy consumption (SEC) and CO2 targets, and monitor performance at every one of our manufacturing sites. These targets are tightened each year to drive continuous improvement and investment in lower CO2 plant and operations.
Our ISO 50001 system is independently assessed each year to ensure that we continue to work to a high standard of energy management, and that our operations are compliant with regulatory requirements such as the UK Government’s Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS).
Renewable power
Achieving net zero will require Tarmac to look at every area of our business to identify further sustainability opportunities and embrace new ideas and technologies. Tarmac continues to procure 100% of our power supply from renewable energy sources, and we are assessing the potential for all sites to have their own self–generated clean power from the grid.
Our Birmingham asphalt plant is a great example of this - 10% of the site’s power supply comes from the hundreds of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels installed on the plant's roof. We are now working on designs to roll out this technology at other similar sites across the UK, which will place less demand on the national electricity network, as well as making our operations even more sustainable.
Sustainable Transport
As the operator of one of the largest HGV fleets in the UK, Tarmac has supported SME hauliers to ensure that 97% of HGVs are Euro6 compliant, and in 2022, brought the UK’s first all-electric ready-mix concrete truck into operation. In 2023, Tarmac and DE Plant partnered with Volvo and Schäfer-technic to develop an all-electric, zero-emission bond coat sprayer.
Tarmac has been signed up to the EV100 initiative for 3 years and remains committed to transitioning 100% of our company car and van fleet to electric before 2030. By the end of 2023, over 30% of our company car fleet was an electric vehicle either in use or on order, and we have been trialling electric vans throughout the year.
To enable our employees to make the switch to electric, we now have electric charging points installed at many of our sites, and plan to continue increasing this number. We also have electric charging points in place at 50 per cent of our JB Riney depots in the greater London area after introducing five electric vehicles to the fleet in 2023.
Low Carbon Logistics
In a UK first for the construction materials sector, Tarmac has successfully trialled the use of biomethane fuel in a heavy goods vehicle (HGV) which has the potential to deliver a net reduction of up to 90% in CO₂ emissions.
The three week-long trial was carried out in June and July of 2023 in partnership with CNG Fuels, the leading supplier of renewable and sustainable biomethane fuel for commercial vehicles in the UK. The trial tested the range of a 44 tonne HGV hauling a bulk cement tanker.
We also reopened a Peak District rail connection to expand the supply of aggregates to our customers via freight trains. A new internal rail siding at Hillhead Quarry was developed and connected to the rail network to meet the current demand of the construction sector and other nationally important major infrastructure projects. The sidings provide Tarmac with the capability to haul large quantities of bulk aggregates each day, with the added advantage of rail transport reducing carbon emissions.
Industry Collaboration
To enable us to transition to a net zero society, we need to collaborate across governments, industries, and communities to develop sustainable solutions. Tarmac collaborates with a wide range of businesses and organisations to support our transition to a net zero society. Some of our key collaborations include:
Peak Cluster
In 2023, it was announced that Tarmac was part of a world-first carbon capture and storage project to create a net zero future for the cement and lime industry. Located in the Peak District, the Peak Cluster project will prevent over three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year. It was initiated by Tarmac, Breedon, Lhoist, and Aggregate Industries, together with the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant in Cheshire, across five plants in the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands.
Tarmac also continues to be an active member of both the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC) and the Scottish Industrial Cluster (NECCUS) to collaborate and decarbonise the industry.
‘Cement 2 Zero’
Tarmac is participating in a groundbreaking project to develop the world’s first zero emission cement on an industrial scale, with the first trial being completed in 2023. Led by the Materials Processing Institute (MPI), the ‘Cement 2 Zero’ government-funded project saw Tarmac collaborate with University of Cambridge researchers and other businesses to eliminate carbon emissions associated with the manufacture of clinker in cement kilns, and in turn create cement clinker using Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF).
Hartlepool and Stockton
Tarmac partnered with Hartlepool Borough Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council to deliver the lowest carbon roads ever to be resurfaced in the UK. The project delivered a reduction in carbon emissions of up to 80% compared to traditional methods and has helped to lay a new blueprint for how roads are maintained in the UK.
Reducing our Carbon Footprint
At the end of 2023, Tarmac had achieved a 33% reduction in CO2 per tonne. We categorise our greenhouse gas emissions into direct and indirect sources in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Tarmac: CO2 emissions by scope
Scope 1
2,110
74.47%
Scope 2*
0.013**
0.00%
723
25.53%
2,833
*This includes mainly electric vehicle company car charging ** On a location basis our scope 2 emissions are 96,998 tCO2e
Tarmac: direct and indirect CO2 emissions
*This includes mainly electric vehicle company car charging
** On a location basis our scope 2 emissions are 96,998 tCO2e
WDF = Waste Derived Fuels
LPG = Liquid Petroleum Gas
HVO = Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil
Tarmac: energy use by source (GJ)
WDF = Waste Derived Fuels
LPG = Liquid Petroleum Gas
HVO = Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil
Looking forward
In 2024, we will continue to work towards a net zero society. Following the launch of Tarmac’s ‘Roadmap to net zero’, we hope to build on the progress we made in 2023 through collaboration and taking part in new trials and innovative projects to help us further reach our goals.
