20 July/August 2026 | E-Mobility Engineering Changing the game in The quest for net zero will only ever be achieved if the world develops ways to decarbonise construction, and heavyduty on-site machinery is one of the major elements in that industry. Largescale building work often involves huge crawler cranes, diggers, drilling machines and pile drivers, which are used to create the foundations of everything from tower block apartments to schools and offices. The construction industry is one of the largest sectors in the global economy, but it is also one of the largest sources of carbon emissions. In the UK alone, the sector is worth roughly £170– £200 billion annually and it employs more than two million people across trades, engineering, architecture, manufacturing and infrastructure, with energy infrastructure and transport among the biggest growth areas at the time of writing. The 1.5 million new homes that the UK government is currently targeting, which are being built at a rate of around 300,000 per year, often require intensive piling for foundations – and even the very power sources that the UK is heavily investing in to meet its future green energy requirements – such as the wind turbines, electricity grid infrastructure and hydro storage – involve huge construction operations for installation. Globally, construction is one of the world’s largest industries, driven by a combination of population growth, urbanisation, data centre infrastructure and energy transition projects. According to the UN Environment Programme, construction accounts for around one tenth of global emissions of CO2. Much of this is down to the emissions from cement and steel production, but the emissions of on-site operations are estimated at around one tenth of that total amount – so it remains a significant sector to decarbonise.
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