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At John Sisk & Son, up to 98% of company emissions sit in the supply chain. That changes the decarbonisation problem completely: the biggest levers are often not on the construction site, but in what gets bought.
I speak with Keith O’Flynn, Group Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at Sisk, about what that means in practice for one of Ireland’s largest contractors. When concrete and steel dominate purchased-goods emissions, procurement decisions become climate decisions — but thin margins, imperfect carbon data and established standards can slow change.
We examine why low-carbon concrete can deliver major embodied-carbon reductions yet still struggle to scale, what makes cleaner steel harder to source, and why spend-based Scope 3 accounting can give companies a dangerously fuzzy picture of their footprint. We also look at the tension between commercial reality and the growing demand from clients for demonstrably lower-carbon projects.
Listen now to understand where construction’s Scope 3 emissions really sit — and what has to change if companies are serious about cutting them.
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