15 October was Climate Action Day. It was the day hard landscaping leader Marshalls, which famously operates quarries across the UK and sells both indigenous and imported natural stone paving products as well as concrete products, chose to commit to reaching Net Zero by 2030 - well ahead of the government's Net Zero target of 2050. 

Marshalls joined forces with companies around the world taking part in Climate Action Day. The day emphasises the need to act now to prevent the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. 

Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow next month (31 October - 12 November), Marshalls is also calling on other companies in the UK construction sector to accelerate their own actions to reduce global warming. Larger companies are more active on the matter, but the government also needs smaller businesses to sign up to a Net Zero commitment (which you can do at bit.ly/netzerohour) if it is to reach its 2050 Net Zero target. 

This summer, Chris Griffiths, Head of Product Sustainability at Marshalls, told Natural Stone Specialist magazine about the moves Marshalls is taking to reduce its carbon footprint (read what he said here). 

He said then: "Two years ago I would have said that construction changes at a snail's pace... but all of a sudden we seem to be an industry that is wanting to change and is prepared to take a risk."

Marshalls has also published the Climate Challenge e-book (click here to see it) to attempt to influence the industry and change the future. It sets out the scale of the carbon reduction challenge for our planet, our country, our industry, and Marshalls as a business.

Chris Harrop OBE, Marshalls Group Sustainability Director, says: “The construction industry is one of the biggest global producers of carbon, which is why we set science‐based targets... I’m proud to say we’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 50% since 2008, but there’s much more to be done to reach Net Zero.

"All our production sites now use electricity from renewable sources, we’ve reduced the cement content in some products by 60%, and we use Euro 6 engines in vehicles as standard across our fleet. With solar panels installed and active in two of our sites, we’re now prioritising a new major solar project every year.”

To achieve Net Zero, Marshalls says it will address emissions from every aspect of its operations and activity, including its fleet of more than 350 lorries and its production processes for both concrete and natural stone products.