70 | Feature: Lathams Carbon Calculator
CALCULATING CARBON
James Latham’s new Carbon Calculator is a bold initiative designed to give full transparency on the carbon impact side of its products and aid the wider appreciation and specification of wood’s benefits. Stephen Powney talked to James Latham’s group head of marketing Stuart Devoil
The talk of carbon has had a high priority in the news of late thanks to the COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties) taking place in early November. Timber, of course, has a positive message in the carbon equation, with trees and wood products embodying carbon – a fact that is increasingly being appreciated by the architect and specifier community. Timber product companies are seeing the benefits in engaging in the debate too. One of the largest and longest- established UK timber product distributors, James Latham, has used the background of COP26 to launch its own carbon initiative following a painstaking research project involving the BioComposites Centre at the University of Bangor. “We’ve always been a very sustainably focused business and the environment is always at the forefront of what we do,” explained Stuart Devoil, Lathams’ group head of marketing. “We hold the quality and sustainability of our suppliers’ products very highly. However, we weren’t experts in carbon. We were aware that it was a movement, but we certainly weren’t in any way involved.”
That changed when, during a meeting with supplier Accsys Technologies, Lathams was introduced to an architect who explained the significance of carbon in his product selection criteria. Above product aesthetics, performance and suitability, the architect rated carbon as the first thing he considered – specifically in the context of cladding projects where the large amount of wood cladding could create a big carbon sink.
Above: The logos demonstrating
Biogenic Carbon and Carbon Footprint confidence ratings
“That triggered some ideas within us about the relevance and importance of carbon.” When the pandemic hit, Lathams had time to examine what new projects it could focus on and carbon was highlighted. The company started looking at how it could measure the carbon impact of its products – both from a carbon footprint and biogenic (embodied carbon) point of view.
TTJ | November/December 2021 |
www.ttjonline.com
Realising it needed expert guidance, Lathams was advised by the Timber Trade Federation’s Tabitha Binding to contact several universities and ultimately Bangor was selected to take on the project.
CARBON CALCULATOR
After over 12 months of work, the now operational James Latham Carbon Calculator is designed to give a combined score or rating for its products based on carbon footprint and “locked in” stored carbon (biogenic), thereby increasing visibility of carbon impacts and directing customers towards more sustainable products.
The calculator covers just over 70% of the total Lathams product range and focuses on timber products, though in a following phase composite materials will be added to its scope. The carbon footprint side of the tool calculates environmental impact by looking at the carbon footprint of products, from production through to delivery and storage at James Latham depots – a ‘cradle-to- warehouse gate’ basis, capturing greenhouse gas emissions up to the point that goods leave Lathams’ premises for delivery to the customer.
Each product receives a ‘Confidence’ rating from C1 – C4 (one being the highest), based on the confidence that Lathams has in the data used for the calculations. The higher the score, the higher the quality of the data points that have been reviewed, for example an audited and published EPD (Environmental Performance Declaration). The carbon footprint scorecard is represented by a footprint logo, while the biogenic rating has a tree logo.
Lathams will be adding the carbon data to all quotations, delivery notes, and other key documentation to increase visibility around this issue.
Ewa Bazydlo, environmental manager at Lathams, explained that understanding around sustainability is not consistent across the industry. “We’ve developed the calculator to help our customers to better understand the sustainability of the materials they choose as
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