Road transport is decarbonising fast. By the time the Lower Thames Crossing opens for traffic the vast majority of cars will be electric or hybrid. 

As a carbon pathfinder project we’re focussed on driving carbon out of construction – reducing our own footprint, and setting new standards that will help transform the British construction industry. 

We’ve set ourselves an ambitious target to cut our footprint by 70%, and will responsibly offset what we can’t eliminate. We’re taking a forensic approach, starting with the biggest contributors of carbon:  

Removing diesel

We’ll eliminate diesel from our worksites by 2027, helped by buying the largest ever volume of hydrogen for a construction project.

Using the lowest concrete and cement

Where we cannot eliminate or substitute cement, we will use the lowest carbon product available, in the most carbon efficient design.

Reusing and recycling steel

We will reuse and recycle steel for temporary & permanent structural applications & substitute with basalt and fibre in reinforced concrete.

Our carbon cutting journey 

We have: 

  • Set a legally binding carbon limit: we became the first project to put a legally binding construction carbon limit into our planning application.

  • Contracted for carbon: by putting carbon reduction at the heart of our procurement process, potential partners brought new and innovative ideas that have helped us to go further. 

  • Become PAS 2080 accredited: the first road scheme to meet the highest standard of Carbon Management in Infrastructure. 

  • Upskilled staff: we achieved Gold level Carbon Literacy so our staff have the knowledge they need to help tackle climate change at work and at home. 

  • Low carbon footbridge: we’ve set a benchmark for sustainable design that can be used on our project and across the British road network.

  • Zero-emission equipment: deployed the world’s first Hydrogen powered excavator on our site, and we’re using hydrogen generators and electric equipment to create a new community woodland at Hole Farm.

A recent community planting event
CLC graph
Click to enlarge
Gold level Carbon Literacy accreditation

Lower Thames Crossing and the Five Client Carbon Commitments

The Lower Thames Crossing is proud to be one of the first organisations to have signed up to the Construction Leadership Council’s Five Client Carbon Commitments – simple, practical steps that organisations can take to show how they are reducing their carbon emissions and by when.

The Lower Thames Crossing has been designed to be the UK’s greenest road, with carbon reduction running through the heart of the project. Always at the forefront of green construction initiatives, the project’s innovative procurement process saw a carbon reduction of around 50% from its baseline, and its Development Consent Order contains a legally binding carbon limit, a first for any UK infrastructure project.

The graph shows how the scheme has already met several of the commitments, including contracting for low carbon and achieving PAS 2080.

By 2027, all construction sites will be zero emissions with no fossil or biofuels used on site.

The Five Client Carbon Commitments are:

  1. Procure for low carbon construction and provide incentives in our contracts

  2. Set phase out dates for fossil fuel use
  3. Eliminate the most carbon intensive concrete products
  4. Eliminate the most carbon intensive steel products
  5. Adopt PAS 2080, Carbon Management in Infrastructure, as a common standard
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