Overcoming Systemic Barriers to ‘Greening’ the Construction Industry: The Important Role of Building Workers in Implementing Climate Objectives at the Workplace

There is a broad consensus among climate scientists and policy makers that reducing the GHG emissions and energy consumption of the built environment is critical to mitigating the impact of global warming. This means adopting policiesthat will dramatically accelerate the introduction of low carbon construction, both in new structures and in retrofitting the existing building stock. An important, but often overlooked, component of this process is how to ensure that climate objectives are properly implemented at the workplace by building trades workers. This paper argues that for this to happen, there must be major changes in how the industryis organized – changes that challenge the unregulated market with its pervasive reliance on labour sub-contracting and precarious employment and its negative impact on building standards. The industry must transform its inadequate training and apprenticeship system to give workers the additional skills needed for low carbon construction. It must reduce the loss of qualified workers and their skills, by providing greater job security and a long term career in the industry. And it must incorporate a greater role for the workforce - and the unions that represent it - in creating a ‘green’ construction culture at the workplace.