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The government's aims to tackle climate change challenges and help shift the UK’s economy to a sustainable focus.

Whether supporting greenhouse gas (GHG) management, accelerating net zero energy migration or improving the sustainability of our food supply systems, standards will enable the optimal delivery of the 10-Point Plan.

This work cuts across all sectors from built environment and transport, to manufacturing, digital, healthcare and beyond. Here we’ll look at the plan’s main themes, highlighting key areas in which standards are making an impact.

Energy

A large part of the ten point plan broadly relates to energy and renewables (offshore wind, low carbon hydrogen, nuclear power, carbon capture and storage, as well as aviation and shipping).

This makes sense as in order to reach net zero we need to decarbonise the majority of the Energy Sector. Developers and manufacturers in the sector have long incorporated guidance and best practice from standards when planning renewable projects. is the first development of its kind off the south coast of England.

Lying between 13 and 20 km from the Sussex shoreline, Rampion delivers enough electricity for 400,000 homes, reducing carbon emissions by well over 600,000 tonnes in the past year.

“International standards underpin much of what makes a significant offshore wind energy project like Rampion possible,” says Richard Crowhurst, General Manager of Rampion Offshore Wind Farm. “From design and planning to site surveys and environmental considerations, through to construction, commissioning and operation.

“Standards help reduce project risks, increase safety and optimize efficiency. They provide vital best practice guidance and increase stakeholder confidence in our processes and procedures."

Beyond wind, existing standards around nuclear power – relating to safety, quality and instrumentation, for example – have been used by the industry for some time. As the Government plans significant investment for an Advanced Nuclear Fund, BSI’s are developing further design and control focused standards that will support the initiative.

A large part of BSI’s focus in the sector is looking at the future to ensure standards enable and accelerate the transition to net zero. This is often achieved through strategic programmes of work. Examples are the Energy Smart Appliances (ESA) Standards programme and the Faraday Battery Challenge.

The ESA Programme (sponsored by BEIS) has helped convene government, industry and wider stakeholders to develop standards for energy smart appliances including domestic Electric Vehicle (EV) charge points and will consider issues such as interoperability, data privacy, grid stability and cybersecurity. Related work on standards will address accessibility issues for users of public EV charge points.

The FBC, meanwhile, addresses the growing demand for batteries to power vehicle electrification. Nick Fleming, Head of Transport & Mobility at BSI, notes: “BSI’s work supporting the Faraday Battery Challenge is helping to put in place good practice needed to ensure that health and safety, environmental and quality considerations are at the heart of EV battery pack, cell and module design, manufacture and handling. The will help with the scaling of UK battery production, supply chain and mainstream use in line with the rise of EVs and global efforts to phase out the sale of internal combustion engines.”

Further to this, BSI has recently published a Battery manufacturing and technology standards roadmap exploring future areas and priorities for battery standardization.

In short, transitioning to a net zero energy system by 2050 requires rapid and fundamental changes to the way energy is produced and used. It also requires unprecedented innovation in the years to come. Standards are a critical component to enable this transition within its necessarily ambitious timeframe.  

Transport and Mobility

The middle points of the 10-point plan all relate to the transport sector – the largest carbon emitter in the UK, which is responsible for more than a quarter of GHG emissions. The Government has also since published its , which provides a pathway for the whole transport sector to reach the legal requirement of net zero by 2050.

This includes a firm to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, with all new cars and vans being zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035. What’s more, plans to phase out the sale of petrol- and diesel-powered heavy goods vehicles by 2040, or earlier if technically feasible.

Other objectives include the complete phasing out of diesel-only trains by 2040 and new interim decarbonisation targets of at least 15% by 2030 and 40% by 2040 from the UK aviation industry. There’s also a commitment to ‘lead by example’, with 25% of Government fleet vehicles to be ultra-low emission by 2022 and 100% of the car and van fleet to be zero-emission by 2027, which is three years earlier than planned.

Alongside this, the Department for Transport has published to the EV Smart Charging consultation. To deliver consistent minimum standards, they have proposed that all new private chargepoints must comply with PAS 1878 and PAS 1879 for Energy Smart appliances, which will help to deliver the key objectives of cybersecurity, customer protection, interoperability and grid stability. 

In addition to the ESA and FBC initiatives, standards promote the development and adoption of EV and hydrogen powered vehicles, as well as charging infrastructure, battery technology and related functional safety.

Standards also support plans for increased green public transport and active travel use, from optimizing the efficiency, flexibility and demand sensitivity of the network, to ensuring the right mixture and integration of modes. This is in line with governmental plans to boost active travel with the creation of a world class cycling and walking network in England by 2040.

The Government’s cites as a success case study to emulate: “Bus services have a central part to play in the decarbonisation of our cities. Each bus journey takes up to 75 car journeys off the roads. Accelerating the transition of bus fleets to zero emissions will multiply this carbon reduction factor,” says Martin Harris, Managing Director of Brighton & Hove Buses.

“Making this happen requires significant collaboration and partnership effort – both from central and local government, as well in conjunction with other transport modes. If we are going to progress at the speed we need to, all sustainable transport modes must work together on wider challenges like congestion and roadspace sharing,” he adds.

Brighton & Hove operates 54 hybrid electric buses with geo-fenced, zero emission, electric-only operation through the city’s low emission zone and has embarked on an investment programme in Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, initially at its Crawley base.

The fleet delivers three million passenger journeys and over 240,000 miles of zero emission bus travel annually. Martin continues: “It’s no secret that electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses require significantly higher investment than their predecessors – but this is an essential reality for funding bodies to accept. It’s part of the permanent reframing of our collective priorities around climate change.”

Brighton & Hove Buses also has a long history of standards use: “We’ve used standards across our business for decades – to support vital areas such as quality assurance, energy management and decarbonization. As well as the confidence that independent assessment and accreditation provides, standards integration also delivers cost-saving and risk reduction benefits,” explains Martin.

Rising to the challenge of integrated travel mode systems, BSI is working with stakeholders to deliver the data interoperability to underpin varied journey connections, governance, and related travel apps – for example standards around and (ITS).

Sustainability and the Built Environment

The final sections of the plan cover sustainability across greener buildings, carbon capture, the natural landscape and green finance.

The built environment contributes around 40 per cent of the UK’s total carbon footprint. One of the sector’s biggest challenges involves finding ways to further reduce this energy use while still keeping buildings running effectively. Standards can help support improved energy efficiency across the whole lifecycle of an asset or system, from design and construction to operations and facilities management, particularly through appliances and services, and sustainable products and materials.

Application of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) approach can also be used to support energy efficiency. Through BIM, key performance indicators can be contractually requested as information requirements, ensuring access to this information to make informed design decisions. This can include, for example, the thermal resistance (U-value) of components, or the embodied energy of products. 

In addition, the creation of a design model can allow for complex details to be modelled to ensure their viability to achieve performance requirements such as air tightness or the mitigation of thermal bridging. These design models can also be used to adjust the internal dimensions to reduce material offcuts, reducing waste produced on site.

BSI has published specifications and , sponsored by the UK government, on retrofitting homes with energy efficiency measures and improvements, with a focus on insulation, air tightness and ventilation.

Also, by transitioning to a dual-fuel or hybrid boiler, consumers can contribute to the planned transition from natural gas. To aid such efforts, BSI has developed best practice to help the UK’s hydrogen expansion, aimed at appliance manufacturers.

Outside of these domestic specifications, BSI has produced a new technical standard for retrofitting non-domestic properties such as offices, factories and hotels. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), specifies requirements for ‘retrofitting non-domestic buildings for improved energy efficiency’ and is due to publish in August 2021. Meanwhile, PAS 2080, the world’s first standard for managing whole-life carbon in infrastructure, is currently being revised.

When it comes to carbon capture and GHG management, standards are there to assist in every step of the process, from assessment, reduction and management right through to offsetting, reporting and assurance.

Organizations can use this guidance to streamline and reduce the cost of preparing a GHG inventory, as well as controlling ongoing emissions and required declarations.

The plan also sets out a number of policies to protect and promote the natural environment, with specific funding for new national parks, AONB designations, land recovery for habitats and flood defence improvements.

BSI recently published new on biodiversity management, which organizations can use to support many of these initiatives. Applicable to the planning and development of new buildings, as well as changes in land use, it provides a framework with which stakeholders can make sound decisions on ecological and biodiversity issues.

This is in addition to the international standard on environmental management and BSI’s Sustainable Finance Standardization Programme – both of which are key supportive resources.

By easing the integration of new sustainable techniques and technologies, aiding essential conservation projects and enabling businesses to contribute to an unfolding green economy, standards are central to how the UK can realize the full potential of the 10-Point Plan.