Big Buyers - Joint Statement of Demand for Emission-free Construction Site Machinery

The Zero Emission Construction Sites Working Group of the Big Buyers for Climate and Environment has developed a Joint Statement of Demand for Emission-free Construction Site Machinery.

As public buyers, they are committed to leveraging their procurement as a tool to promote sustainable development and innovation. The signatories aim to transition towards carbon neutrality by eliminating emissions from their construction works, whilst improving the local air quality and conditions of construction workers. The construction sector represents as much as 36% of global energy use and 39% of GHG emissions. This means the sector presents a clear opportunity to make a significant impact in lowering global GHG and solving local environmental problems. Cities, which largely concentrate the negative externalities caused by construction works (e.g. air pollution, noise, congestion), can be frontrunners in the promotion of cleaner construction machinery, with which they can also achieve improved health and safety for workers on-site and quality of life for citizens in the surrounding area. They acknowledge that market frontrunners need a clear and reliable signal of aggregate demand to de-risk and enable rapid scale-up of emission-free construction solutions, and that this transition must go hand in hand with the transition to and accessibility of clean energy. Signatories are dedicated to strengthening cooperation among them as public buyers, as well as with construction machine manufacturers, contractors, and providers of supporting energy infrastructure or technology advancements for enhanced site management.

The statement indicates a clear direction the cities aim to take, making future demand predictable and helping other public buyers across Europe to use procurement to effectively support innovation while ensuring sustainability and high quality. This joint statement serves to announce the aligned demand across big public buyers in Europe to procure for emission-free construction sites. The statement is still open to sign up to and organisations who align with them are encouraged to contact the project and join an ever-growing number of signatories.