Time for the construction industry to make an appeal

Eric Kouters - Director of Wood 100%, marketing platform of the best lumber mills in the Netherlands

Attention to the environmental and climate impact of building materials, which account for 11% of total CO₂ emissions, is growing. In the Netherlands, we use the Environmental Performance of Buildings (MPG) for this purpose. But this methodology falls short, if you use it to reduce CO₂ emissions and promote biobased mate-rials. And companies like to use that, so we don't see the real impact and it becomes more green-washing. It is time for an overhaul of the MPG to encourage truly sustainable choices!

The MPG is a method that assesses the environmental impact of building materials and buildings. It works by assigning an environmental performance score to a building based on the environmental impact of the mate-rials used. This score looks at factors such as carbon emissions, energy use, and other forms of environmental impact over the life of the building. The lower the score, the better the building scores on sustainability. The MPG helps in choosing materials and designs that have less environmental impact, but........

The methodology consists of four modules: production phase, construction phase, disposal phase and the end-of-life phase. And this last one is where things go wrong, because this is where apples and oranges are compared. This phase looks at the demolition, reuse and recycling of materials. The focus is on reducing waste and maximizing the use of materials for new applications. Because no account is taken here, for example, of the knowledge we now have and the further development of biobased construction, both in practice and in theory, the comparison falls short. This requires adaptation of regulations, but I don't need to explain to anyone how much time this takes! 

Don't get me wrong. I am in favor of the methodology. But it must be fair. The only problem is that the lobby to maintain the current methodology is mainly conducted by parties that have an interest in it. And I am talking about parties that make building products that are not biobased. They make clever use of the rules, without doing anything wrong. That is why I want to challenge all sustainability enthusiasts, who are in favor of future-proof building, to join forces. We need to tell more publicly and prove that we need to make a bigger shift to sustainable choices in Dutch construction sooner.

I am committed to peeling this apple. Who joins?