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Belgium was the first country after the Netherlands to use the CO₂ Performance Ladder. Between 2019 and 2023, 24 pilot projects in three regions were launched implementing the Ladder. The results of the pilot are positive among both participating companies and contracting authorities, and can be read in the report on this successful pilot period. Now that it’s time to map out the further integration and scaling-up of the system in Belgium, the various actors came together for a roundtable discussion.

One of the largest Dutch infrastructure projects in recent years, with a financial volume of ± €845.000.000, is the extension of the A9 motorway between Badhoevedorp and Holendrecht. Rijkswaterstaat is responsible for this project and used the CO₂ Performance Ladder in their tender. The project was awarded to the construction consortium VeenIX, consisting of FCC Construcción and Macquarie Capital. We spoke about the project with Raúl Hortal Alonso, project director at FCC. The Spanish company is among the 15 largest construction companies in Europe. During the conversation, we discussed the role of the CO₂ Performance Ladder in the project and the CO₂ reduction measures taken.

How can we explain the success of the Ladder in the Netherlands and Belgium? What can this teach us about implementing the CO₂ Performance Ladder in new sectors, regions and countries? SKAO and CO₂logic combined their experiences to identify the most important factors – building blocks and accelerators – for the successful implementation of the CO₂ Performance Ladder.

The CO₂ Performance Ladder is an effective tool to help organisations reduce their CO₂ emissions. The sustainability tool helps organisations make their CO₂ emissions comprehensible and embed reduction measures. The CO₂ Performance Ladder offers the most added value to companies and governments with little insight into their CO₂ emissions. This is according to research by CE Delft commissioned by the IKEA Foundation.

The CO₂ Performance Ladder was developed in the Netherlands by ProRail as a way to stimulate action from the market on carbon reduction. For the first decade of its existence, the CO₂PL remained a Dutch instrument, focused on the Dutch market, despite international interest from early on, including across the border in Belgium. As a result of that interest, the CO₂ Performance Ladder was piloted in 24 construction projects in Belgium, in the period 2019 – 2023. The results of this pilot phase were positive, and are available here. Governments and companies in Belgium are enthusiastic about the instrument and have the ambition to move forward with it.

The Green Deal Sustainable Civil Engineering is a progressive sector initiative that has ensured broad acceptance and application of the CO₂ Performance Ladder in the market. Signed in 2013 in the Netherlands, it is a sector-wide approach to integrate sustainability in ground, road and hydraulic engineering projects. It provides how clients and contractors can cooperate to achieve sector-wide agreement to boost sustainability. Its objective: a practical and uniform approach for everyone in the Civil Engineering market to concretise sustainability in projects, with the CO₂ Performance Ladder as one of the tools to achieve this.

IISD conducted a feasibility study of using the CO₂ Performance Ladder as a procurement tool and CO₂ management tool in Europe. Compared to other European carbon tools and approaches, the CO₂ Performance Ladder stands out for its track record of use in public procurement, its proven carbon mitigation impact, and its third-party verification system.