Zero carbon has been an aspiration for the Welsh construction industry for many years. It’s not easy to achieve, but not so hard either and there are plenty of great examples of best practice we can point to if you want to argue otherwise. Just a quick scan through award entries to the CEW Awards shows a lot of evidence about what can be achieved.

To push for carbon neutrality needs client leadership and a response from the built environment supply chain. It also needs coordination, education, and the promotion of shared learning and best practice. That is why CEW is backing the call from Lesley Griffiths AM, Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs for the Welsh public sector to be carbon neutral by 2030. This is why we are working to support the work of Sophie Howe and her team at the Future Generations Commission.

It is also why we remain wholehearted in our support for projects like LENDERS. This report is a perfect example of industry collaboration pointing to small changes in the mortgage calculation process that if implemented across the lending sector might in turn, lead to changes in the behaviours of home owners and drive energy improvement – leading to a carbon neutral society perhaps.

CEW plays a strong part across a range of projects such as these. Some headline grabbing at a senior Government level, others, less glamorous but all moving towards the improvement of the process of building a better Wales.

One such project is the launch of the construction procurement taskforce in September. This will drive the changes called for from the No Turning Back review. Added together this taskforce and other works we are pursuing will drive positive improvement in our industry across the whole supply chain.

No one else is doing this. No one else will do this.

Let’s keep working together for a better Wales.