Thank you very much.
Let me be direct. Cement and concrete are a sustainable and critical component to rebuilding and developing Canada’s infrastructure. Durable, safe, energy efficient, and resilient in the face of diverse and changing climate, cement and concrete are a key building material used in virtually all above and below ground infrastructure and building projects.
It is critically important for governments to make annual investments in our country’s infrastructure, and I'd like to applaud the new government for making significant commitments to long-term infrastructure investments. True partnership and co-operation is required to address the infrastructure deficit, and Canada’s cement producers wish to be full partners with all levels of government in the renewal and modernization of Canada’s infrastructure.
What’s different now from my previous appearances before this committee is that the Government of Canada—and governments globally—has committed to transition to low-carbon economies, which will both mitigate climate change and prepare our communities for the changes we are already experiencing. Within a year, the vast majority of the Canadian economy will include a price on carbon and the federal government has committed to complementing these provincial initiatives with a national pricing strategy.
Fighting climate change is not for the faint of heart, especially for you politicians. It will require step change. It will require massive regulation if we are to meet the goals adopted at COP21.
As a northern climate, Canada’s infrastructure is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Canada needs and must continue to focus on resilient forms of construction. We are also faced with significant maintenance backlogs. Governments have traditionally focused on short-term fixes to infrastructure deficiencies rather than true infrastructure renewal and modernization, thus leading to an increased tax burden, and ultimately, increased greenhouse gases.
If we are committed to reducing greenhouse gases from the built environment and minimizing long-term maintenance costs, government needs to move beyond the initial cost decision and embrace a cradle-to-cradle perspective. Governments should consider a project’s total service life and total cost of ownership. For example, the vast majority of a building’s energy consumption and contribution to greenhouse gases takes place after it is built, so infrastructure projects are long-lived assets and what we do or don’t do to minimize greenhouse gas emissions today is locking the potential for GHG reductions in the future.
The optimum solution for any construction project, both from a cost and environmental point of view, can only be determined through a complete life cycle analysis. These impacts may not be apparent if the initial costs and environmental burdens are inappropriately weighed in the evaluation. Life cycle studies demonstrate that the initial embodied energy of a typical building in Canada seldom exceeds 10% of the overall energy or CO2 emissions associated with the project's life. Most importantly from a greenhouse gas emissions perspective is the energy performance of the project over its total service life. This factor has shown itself to be a major driver in the environmental performance of a project and of reducing total operational costs and total cost of ownership, so in light of these findings, it's obvious the focus promoted by some industries on only the initial carbon profile of building products themselves is therefore not a fully transparent position and overlooks the largest potential greenhouse gas reductions.
That's why we are recommending that any infrastructure investment should mandate full life-cycle cost assessment screening. As my colleague talked about earlier, let's spend the money properly. We need to ensure that all new projects contribute to achieving Canada’s CO2 reduction objectives. It's important that every decision government takes be seen through the climate change lens.
We take sustainability seriously. We've reduced our CO2 emissions by 15% over the past 20 years and our new cement, called Contempra, will decrease CO2 emissions by a further 10%. This new cement is a direct result of the industry’s commitment to proactively improve its environmental footprint. By replacing general-use cement and mandating—having the government mandate the use of Contempra cement on public infrastructure across Canada—governments can reduce CO2 emissions by almost one megatonne per year with this small change. This is the equivalent of taking 172,000 cars off the road each year, or planting 23 million trees annually.
It's just one of the many ways our industry can help governments meet their climate change objectives.
In conclusion, when it comes to investments in durable, safe, energy-efficient, and resilient infrastructure, we'd like the government to truly adopt the philosophy of build it once, build it right, build it to last, and if I can be self-serving, build it with concrete.