Sustainability should be a priority for all organizations, but it's especially critical for companies in the construction industry, which has a substantial environmental impact. With construction being one of the largest contributors to global emissions and waste, the need for sustainable practices has never been more urgent.
On the bright side, there are steps you can take to significantly elevate sustainability in your business. One firm making waves in this area is Webcor, a premier provider of commercial construction services. From optimizing its fleet to becoming a pilot adopter of the US Green Building Council's latest certifications, Webcor is a pioneer in sustainable construction. As further testament to its credentials, the company recently delivered the world’s first Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) zero waste for construction-certified public project.
To go behind the scenes on the strategies, practices, and mindsets driving Webcor’s green initiatives, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Rege, Senior Sustainability Director at Webcor, for the Digital Builder podcast.
You can also listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.
We discuss:
Sustainability can feel like a broad term with many acronyms, jargon, and frameworks. But at its core, Sarah says it's a balanced approach that encompasses environmental, social, and economic responsibilities.
"Sustainability, in the most resilient way, is not only the obvious environmental aspect or doing what's right for the planet long term. It's also about doing the right thing for the communities—i.e., that social aspect. Then, the third piece is the economic viability of the strategy."
"I always refer to that as the three-legged stool. You can't do one without the other, and I think that's a more holistic approach to sustainability."
When Webcor started on a journey to reduce its carbon footprint, Sarah says the company focused on tracking and reducing emissions in three scopes.
"Scope one is your direct emissions, such as emissions from your fleet. Scope two is your indirect emissions—for example, where you purchase electricity from the grid. Finally, scope three is the upstream and downstream emissions that are not included in either scope one or two," Sarah explains.
Of course, launching sustainability programs is one thing, but how can you measure their success?
Sarah says it starts with identifying sources or metrics you can track and then collecting whatever data you can.
"We started with something we thought was pretty achievable, and that was to look at scope one and two and identify the sources of our emissions. From there, we looked at what data we had on each of those sources."
She adds that firms shouldn't let having imperfect data stop them from launching and measuring their sustainability initiatives.
"We don't have perfect data. We haven't been measuring all these things historically. Still, we don't let that stop us from doing initial measurements because once you get something measured, you can look at how to improve the quality of that data and then ultimately how to reduce it."
One of the first things Webcor tackled to reduce its carbon footprint was shifting its fleet to electric vehicles.
"Fleet vehicles comprised over 60% of our scope, including one and two carbon footprints. So, it was easy to identify that as an area to start," explains Sarah.
Webcor surveyed its employees to identify their concerns about using EVs, and the results showed significant worries about range limitations and access to charging infrastructure.
"Range anxiety came up consistently, as did infrastructure because there weren't charging stations at home, in the office, or at the jobsite."
To address those concerns, Webcor implemented several supportive measures to ease the transition.
"We worked to evolve our EV policy. Based on the survey, we felt that we needed incentives to reach critical mass and get early adopters into these vehicles. And so, we have a higher vehicle allowance where you get a little bit more money for your vehicle if you choose an EV."
She continues, "We also did some one-time incentives to set up home charging and a monthly electrical cost stipend afterward. If you're in an apartment or you can't add an EV charger, we allow that to be charged on a card so that you can charge at charging stations."
Sarah acknowledges that there are still challenges to overcome, particularly with charging infrastructure.
"I think infrastructure has to catch up, but right now, we have made some post-EV adoption surveys and have a lot of good comments. I think there's still work to do to get charging in more places, but it's been successful overall."
Regarding how owners approach sustainability conversations, Sarah says it varies depending on the client's priorities and the specific project.
"It depends on the client and their objectives, but most conversations start with goals that are more baseline-focused than aspirational. Cost always becomes part of that conversation, and I think LEED certifications and driving operational energy have been really successful in that."
Additionally, there's a growing awareness and concern among owners about emerging regulations and the environmental impact of building materials.
"I think where it's shifted now is that owners are aware of legislation around embodied carbon. Things like mass timber and concrete also come up. They ask questions like, 'Can we have some reductions? Can we do it at no cost? If there's a premium cost, what is it?'"
As for how GCs can navigate these discussions, Sarah recommends taking a proactive and integrated strategy to sustainability.
"We approach sustainability in an integrated fashion, which helps support that conversation. Projects have a long life; even just the construction phases of a project can be several years long. So, what we like to do is introduce or provide awareness to all of the other things going on with other projects in the area that meet California's requirements. Then we talk about how the project could address these things and have it introduced at the beginning."
She continues, "Of course, cost comes into consideration. But we start having that conversation as soon as we can, and that helps us get to the higher level of aspiration versus saying, 'They didn't ask for it, so we're not going to mention it.'"
In 15 to 20 years, Sarah predicts that many of today's sustainability goals (i.e., being carbon neutral by 2030 or California having zero-emission vehicles by 2035) have already been achieved, so new challenges and opportunities are emerging.
“What comes to my mind is the innovations and technology that we don't know yet about. So, what other zero-emissions energy sources—whether they are fuel cells or whatever—have we developed and focused on? Are they cheaper in buildings? Are they faster to install? Do they have smaller footprints and longer lives?"
On the technology side, Sarah predicts a (near) future where automation plays a crucial role in measuring emissions and tracking the success of sustainability programs.
Beyond that, she envisions a more integrated approach to decision-making through digital tools.
"I hope that in the longer future, we're using more digital methods to evaluate what these things mean before anything is realized. That way, we're making decisions based not only on cost but also on carbon emissions. We should be folding those two pieces together to harness all the reductions without causing waste as a part of that system."
Digital Builder is hosted by me, Eric Thomas. Remember, new episodes of Digital Builder go live every week.
