United Infrastructure Environment

Committed to a sustainable future

Environment strategy

Pathway to Zero

Our planet does a lot for us: it cleans the air we breathe, protects us from flooding, and provides us with food and natural resources, all essential elements for our everyday lives.

However, climate change is putting increasing pressure on our planet. We need to both reduce our contribution to climate change and adapt to our changing climate to protect the lives and livelihoods of people and communities.

By prioritising sustainable practices and responsibly managing our natural resources, we can mitigate environmental impact and ensure that the vital services our planet provides are preserved for future generations.

As a business, we are committed to playing our part in addressing the climate emergency. Our Pathway to Zero outlines the actions we are taking to decarbonise our activities and those of our supply chain. We have established actions to address some of the most pressing environmental concerns while accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Our approach is centred on responsible business practices and a drive to reduce our environmental impact by embracing eco-friendly construction methods, sustainable materials, and energy-efficient technologies. All our commitments are driven by measurable outcomes that embed sustainability in every business decision we make.

Our pathway to zero strategy

Contributing to global priorities

Alignment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

The UN’s SDGs are a globally recognised set of goals covering three focus areas: environmental, social and economic, demonstrating that all three must go hand in hand when progressing towards sustainable development. While our operations have indirect impacts on all the SDGs, we have taken steps to align our strategy to the SDGs where we have the greatest direct impact.

We have identified six priority SDGs aligned to our sustainability strategy, where we have a material impact across our business.

Measurements and reporting

We are using Normative, the world’s first carbon accounting platform, which offers a detailed analysis of carbon data, sets specific activity-based targets, and models potential reduction strategies. This not only ensures compliance with regulatory demands but also boosts competitiveness and advances meaningful steps towards achieving net zero emissions.

Our partners and signatories

Embracing partnerships and collaboration

As part of our vision to create a connected, sustainable future we collaborate closely with selected organisations dedicated to environmental principles, acting as signatories and trusted partners advocating to promote sustainable business practices.

Working with partners for the benefit of mutually agreed outcomes is an essential feature of our Group approach and our ability to achieve our sustainable business goals.

Strategic targets

Our pathway to zero carbon

In 2024, in conjunction with our new carbon account software, Normative, we produced a Group preliminary materiality assessment. Business growth through mergers and acquisitions, and increased customer base, has created the need to develop and review our sustainability strategy. Clarifying existing targets and identifying both long-term and short-term targets with sustainable outcomes.

Our approach is to gather full Scope 1 and 2 data and obtainable Scope 3 data across the Group in Normative, moving from manual collection to a centralised digital source. This sets a new carbon baseline for FY25/26, giving us the insights to make prioritised, ROI-led reduction commitments, understand our supply chain impact (especially Scope 3), and show employees, customers and investors we’re serious about tackling our carbon footprint.

Each of these targets will be supported by metrics to drive environmental performance, protect the environment and support people’s awareness and readiness for the future.

Progressing towards net zero

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Our short-term target is to be carbon neutral for our Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2030 (where Scope 1 & 2 emissions cannot be reduced, they will be offset responsibly), and our long-term aim is to be net zero for our Scope 3 emissions by 2045.

We’ve been successful in tackling our carbon emissions in recent years, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels in our buildings, and purchasing energy in a cost-effective, compliant, and environmentally responsible manner. We continue to adopt new solutions that reduce carbon output on sites and across our operations.

We have also introduced policies and initiatives to help us reduce our transport costs, mileage and emissions. These include options for home working, alongside other flexible arrangements; enhancing our suite of IT tools to enable home working; implementing a new car benefit scheme that incentivises the selection of low-carbon-emission EV vehicles and installing electric vehicle charging points at offices and construction sites.

Reducing our impact on the environment

Responsible waste stewardship

The Construction Leadership Council estimates that dealing with waste costs the construction industry an estimated £11 billion per annum and emits 3.5 million tonnes of CO2e. Yet waste can be reduced, and materials can be used more efficiently and recycled as resources for new activities.

Minimising our waste and environmental impact is a core part of our sustainability strategy, focusing on reducing, reusing, and recycling across all operations, adopting a circular-economy approach. Our approach to waste and resource efficiency covers every stage of a project’s lifecycle, from the manufacture of materials and products to design, specification, and procurement.

We work closely with our supply chain, including waste management contractors, to reduce material use and eliminate waste, creating a framework for two-way collaborative learning that benefits from our experience and innovation in low-carbon infrastructure, as well as the specific skill sets of our partners. We also work closely with our people to upskill, educate, and sustain behaviours, making us more efficient, reducing our demand on the planet’s resources, and helping us meet our reduction targets.

We recycle and divert 99% of the waste we produce, and we are on track for zero waste to landfill by 2045.

Close collaboration with partners

Creating a responsible and innovative supply chain

While we control our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, which cover our direct emissions from the energy and fuel we buy, we have far less control over our indirect Scope 3 emissions from processes such as the production of materials and the transportation of goods and services.
Building long-term partnerships with our supply chain is a key focus of our business, moving from a transactional model to a collaborative, long-term approach focused on shared sustainability goals across procurement, construction, and operations.

Working directly with our supply chain, we are helping them understand their emissions, set reduction targets, and implement strategies to decarbonise the goods and services they provide. Going forward, we’ll apply what we’ve learned to help more of our supply chain, focusing on our top material carbon emitters, to develop and implement carbon reduction plans in their own businesses.

Innovation is also a key focus of our business. Through our Cultivate Platform, an innovation initiative designed to gather ideas for business improvement and future shaping, we collaborate with our supply chain to develop and bring new solutions to market, driving resource efficiency and broader sustainability benefits.