Climate Change

Our climate has changed. The effects of global warming, including extreme heat, wildfires and flooding are a reality for many. The message from the experts is simple: act now or the impacts of climate change will become even more extreme. 

That’s why we have worked closely with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to validate our 2030 and 2050 carbon reduction targets, ensuring that we’re taking the right actions to play our role in limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

As part of our efforts, we’re also sharing our UK Carbon Reduction Plan. It outlines our pathway to reducing our Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions by 90% by 2050 and using permanent carbon removal and storage to counterbalance the final residual 10% of our emissions. This is in line with the Oxford Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting as required by the SBTi.

The principles of our UK Carbon Reduction Plan are also applied to our global operations where we have operational control or significant influence.

In the UK, around 70% of our Scope 1 carbon emissions comes from the fuel we directly purchase for our plant, fleet and generators. To reduce emissions from these sources, we have developed a three pronged approach of efficiency, electrification and alternative fuels. Supporting this work, we have also implemented the following minimum standards across our UK operations:

  • Deploying EcoSense cabins which produce up to 30% less carbon emissions, on all new projects.
  • Using our EcoNet energy management solution on projects and contracts with four or more cabins. EcoNet reduces energy use by automatically turning off equipment when it is not in use and selecting the lowest carbon energy sources from those available.
  • Using our Power Profiler tool to develop the most carbon and cost-efficient site compound set-ups.
  • Implementing our fuel hierarchy, to ensure we select the right energy sources for our plant, fleet and generators.
  • Reducing vehicle idling and improving plant and equipment utilisation through expert management of works, telematics and local management controls.

Complementing these minimum standards, in 2024, our Highways business achieved PAS 2080:2023 verification – the gold standard for buildings and infrastructure carbon management. Continuing this success, our Power Transmission and Distribution business achieved PAS 2080:2023 verification in January 2025. We are now embedding key elements of the standard into our UK-wide Business Management System, which is already certified to the ISO14001:2015 environmental management systems standards, to help other Business Units continue progressing towards a verified carbon management approach.

Our Scope 2 carbon emissions are the indirect emissions from the electricity we use. To reduce these as far as possible, where we can, we analyse the electricity consumption of our projects, offices and depots, retrofit low-energy use products and adapt our ways of working to avoid unnecessary electricity consumption. We also use renewable energy tariffs backed by the Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) scheme and are reviewing opportunities for Power Purchase Agreements through which we directly connect to renewable energy sources.

Balfour Beatty’s Scope 3 carbon emissions arise in our value chain so we do not have direct control. The vast majority of these emissions come from the goods and services we purchase from our supply chain. You can find out more about how we are working with them to cut our Scope 3 carbon emissions here.

Focusing on reducing emissions from our Infrastructure Investments business, we are working closely with our customers. Together, we are integrating low-carbon requirements at the design stage and retrofitting existing assets with low-carbon solutions. For our joint ventures and operations where we do not have direct operational control, we are sharing best practice with our partners to drive the adoption of low carbon innovations.

In 2024, we saw a small decrease in the Group’s absolute carbon emissions and a 15% reduction in carbon emissions intensity, against our 2023 performance, using the market-based methodology.

5 Measured against a 2020 baseline and verified by the SBTi

6 Measured against a 2020 baseline, not verified by the SBTi as the SBTi only validate our near (2030) and long (2050) term targets