Major firms trial software to count carbon via invoices

Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and Galliford Try are trialling a new technology that provides real-time reporting of embodied carbon.

The new software allows contractors and suppliers to more accurately measure their scope 3 emissions – indirect carbon and greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chain – rather than using approximate, indexed figures for embodied carbon calculations.

Developed by Causeway Technologies, the software uses data from an organisation’s invoices to count materials purchased – for example, concrete, steel and timber – and factor in the carbon emissions associated with its production and transport.

Later this year, the government is expected to launch a call for evidence to determine how best to support the reporting of scope 3 emissions, which it has described as a “major information gap”.

The government has also said it is “exploring” whether to set “a maximum embodied carbon level for new buildings in the future”. However, policymakers are concerned about the extent to which the data can be accurately measured.

Causeway emerging technologies consultant Adam O’Rourke said: “At present, few construction product suppliers find it easy to provide consistent transaction-level data on the full carbon emissions of their products, and so contractors are heavily reliant on using generic carbon calculators for estimating scope 3 emissions,” he said.

“These calculators are useful estimating tools, but Causeway’s scope 3 initiative is different – it provides contractors, for the first time, with an accurate, consistent and automated reporting tool that reflects the actual materials and products used, not just what was planned.”

More accurate reporting means better choices and lower risk for contractors, as well as competitive advantages for suppliers that are supporting their customers to meet their carbon-reporting obligations with an automated solution, O’Rourke said.

In initial tests, Causeway sampled 25,000 invoices from Aggregate Industries, Balfour Beatty, Morgan Sindall and Galliford Try, focusing on materials with the highest carbon impact.

O’Rourke said one of the main innovations behind the scheme was bringing together contractors’ finance departments and sustainability teams from the contractors.

“The detail and accuracy of existing financial reporting provides the level of information needed for transparent benchmarking, tracking and reporting on carbon emissions for ESG reporting, but we found that this connection had not been made in many businesses,” he said.

The project is being supported through a partnership engagement with the University of Bath’s engineering department.