Follow-up on Íæż½ã½ã Member Survey on Sustainability Practices
This spring, Íæż½ã½ã conducted a brief survey on sustainability practices as part of our ongoing discussion with members and with policymakers on climate change policies. Íæż½ã½ã would like to take this opportunity to thank members for their participation and highlight some of the key findings (see below). The survey results will help Íæż½ã½ã understand industry practices related to sustainability and carbon emissions tracking and/or reporting, better advocate for workable measures in any future proposals, and educate policymakers about the impact of any proposed policies on the industry.
- In response to the question of whether companies have in place policies to encourage certain sustainability practices: 78 percent indicated policies to promote recycling, 48 percent for materials reuse, and 26 percent for environmentally friendly or sustainable purchasing.
- Types of sustainability-related requests or requirements from project owners, regulatory agencies, and/or funding agencies, include:
- Have an environmental management systems (44%)
- Provide your firm’s sustainability statement/plan/program (38%)
- Gather and manage documentation related to environmental product declarations (28%)
- Fourteen percent of respondents currently report greenhouse gas emissions on one or more of their projects.
- Respondents that track emissions look at onsite fuel use such as diesel or gasoline (43%), onsite water use (36%), and onsite electricity use (32%).
- Thirty-six percent of respondents currently implement an anti-idling program.
- In response to a question on the use of electric/battery powered equipment or tools:
- Sixty-six percent are using electric/battery powered tools and would do so again. And 23 percent are considering using battery-powered generators.
- Electric/battery powered equipment use is less wide-spread. In this category, respondents have not used: heavy-duty equipment (69%), light-duty equipment (55%) and vehicles (50%). However, respondents are considering use of electric/battery powered vehicles (33%), heavy-duty equipment (24%), and light duty equipment (22%).
- Thirty-six percent of respondents have either a sustainability plan or statement.
The respondents worked within the building (69%), highway and transportation (37%), federal and heavy (36%), and utility infrastructure (35%) markets. Company size also was diverse with total employees within the following ranges 1-49 (26%), 50-249 (35%), 250-499 (12%), and 500 or more (26%). However, the majority of respondents do not have an employee focused on sustainability issues full time (61%).
Íæż½ã½ã’s climate change initiative seeks to ensure the industry plays a lead role in shaping climate change policies that impact construction and help build a greener future, learn more about the initiative at .
For more information, contact Melinda Tomaino at melinda.tomaino@agc.org.