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Following This Summit, 1997 Saw The Kyoto Meeting, Out Of Which The Kyoto ...

Following this Summit, 1997 saw the Kyoto meeting, out of which the Kyoto protocol rose, which provided a workable framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions within certain specified, and agreed upon, timeframes.
The UK Government has responded positively to all of these international environmental agreements, introducing its own legislation to determine how UK businesses, councils and individuals manage their CO2 emissions and how the UK develops its sustainable future. The Government issued its Sustainable Development Strategy in 2005, stating, explicitly, that the Government is committed to reducing the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. As we have seen, as the construction industry, and the built environment is responsible for much of these emissions, it makes sense for the Government to target these sectors and, indeed, there are a whole host of regulations now in place for combating these sectors and their massive greenhouse gas productions.
3.1 Implementation of policies
The UK has various consultancy businesses in place to enable businesses and councils alike to keep abreast of legislation and to implement this legislation in an efficient and cost-effective manner. In particular, assessments of building materials are undertaken through Life Cycle Assessments (LCA), which is, essentially, a study and evaluation of the potential impacts various materials have on the environment. This provides the construction industry with a basic knowledge of the various materials commonly used in the construction industry and their environmental impacts, in terms of a simple ‘ABC' rating, with an ‘A rating' demonstrating a material with the best environmental performance.
There are also various rules and regulations governing the standards of materials used by the construction industry, with the British Board of Agreement (BBA) producing certificates that prove the specification, performance and manufacture of a material and its suitability for use in the construction industry. In addition, the International Standards Organisation (ISO) produces the ISO standard, which has recognition around the world. Another method of proving the validity of a product is through the kite mark, a symbol or quality and authenticity, which is awarded by the British Standards Institute (the BSI).
Building Regulations are a way for the UK Government to control the standards of buildings and the quality of materials used, through inspection of changes to existing buildings or new builds, by a local council member, in terms of ensuring adherence to the Building Regulations in place.


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