TORONTO — Turner & Townsend recently released an article about the importance of Canada’s net-zero targets on public-private partnerships (P3s) and the impacts it may have on both current and future contracts.
At COP26, the federal government pledged to target a net-zero economy by 2050 and infrastructure must be an important part of this strategy, indicates the article.
A UN global report found infrastructure accounts for 79 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and 88 per cent of all adaptation costs. In Canada, the construction industry accounts for approximately 39 per cent of total GHG emissions annually.
According to the article, while a decade ago, sustainability and carbon emissions were a topic, they were seldom incorporated into the contract language or technical requirements, but more recently, technology, carbon capture and other emissions reduction techniques have evolved to a point where there are several examples of the private partner needing to embed GHG emission targets in project performance requirements.
The Gatineau 2 project, delivered for Library and Archives Canada, was used by Turner & Townsend as a case study to demonstrate how GHG emission targets can be successfully included in a P3 project.
It was the first P3 project subject to the federal government’s Greening Government strategy which requires the use of carbon-free renewable energy sources for the day-to-day operations to reduce the annual GHG emissions to close to zero.
The project’s 21,000 m3 of highly controlled environment for the protection of archives is the first net-zero preservation facility in the world and the largest preservation facility with an automated storage retrieval system. In addition, the existing preservation centre had to achieve 80 per cent GHG reduction over the next 30 years. Currently, it has approximately 2,000 tonnes of GHG emissions per year, but a 40 per cent reduction must be achieved by 2030 and 80 per cent by 2050, the article states.
Many changes were needed to meet the net-zero requirement, the most crucial challenge being the wording in the RFP documentation to allow the bidders to propose an affordable solution to meet the requirements.
Lessons learned from the project include:
- Set expectations from the start of the procurement process and include completing research to establish what can feasibly be achieved in terms of emissions targets and energy use in both the construction and operation phases. This should be included in the project business case prior to going to the market.
- During procurement, open discussions with bidders are needed to clarify expectations, how performance will be measured and where risk is apportioned. Innovative solutions can be submitted as options with the RFP response.
- During construction, commitment to the outcomes established in the procurement phase must be maintained. Change required during construction should not compromise the performance targets.
- Throughout construction and operations, performance measurement and reporting must be established and maintained in accordance with the contract requirements.
The article concludes, the P3 procurement model can provide innovative, on time and on budget solutions when used on the right projects. It is possible to meet the government’s future reduction in GHG emission targets within the construct of future P3 contracts when appropriate planning and controls are adopted.
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