More construction contracts now come with sustainability commitments attached. A project might need to report its carbon emissions every month, show how much it has spent with local or social enterprise suppliers, and prove it is meeting targets for apprentices or local employment.
Setting the targets is usually the easy part. Collecting the data behind them is harder. It is spread across fuel dockets, power bills, supplier invoices, timesheets and subcontractor returns, and it often lands with one person a few days before a report is due. Tracking emissions and social procurement in construction properly from day one is what turns these commitments into numbers you can actually stand behind.
What are emissions tracking and social procurement?
Emissions tracking is the ongoing recording of the greenhouse gas emissions a project produces, usually reported in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). On a construction site that covers direct sources like diesel burned by plant and generators, indirect sources like purchased electricity, and often the wider supply chain, including materials, transport and waste. These are commonly grouped as Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Social procurement means using a project’s purchasing and employment to create social value, beyond simply buying the cheapest compliant option. In practice that can include buying from local businesses, small and medium enterprises, social enterprises and Indigenous-owned businesses, and creating jobs and training for apprentices, trainees, local residents or people facing barriers to work.
The two are often grouped under sustainability reporting, and they share the same challenge: the data comes from many places and has to be consistent month after month.
Why tracking matters
- Contract requirements: sustainability targets are increasingly written into contracts and tender commitments, with regular reporting to the client.
- Credibility: numbers backed by dockets, invoices and timesheets hold up under client review or audit. Estimates pulled together at the last minute do not.
- Early correction: monthly tracking shows when a project is falling behind a target while there is still time to change suppliers, plant or hiring plans.
- Cost visibility: fuel and energy data shows where plant is idling, generators are oversized, or deliveries could be consolidated.
- Future bids: verified results from past projects give tender teams real evidence instead of promises.
What to track
Emissions
- Fuel: diesel and petrol used by plant, vehicles and generators, by quantity and by company.
- Electricity: site sheds, lighting, tower cranes and other grid or temporary power.
- Materials: quantities of high-impact materials such as concrete and steel, and any lower-carbon alternatives used.
- Transport: deliveries, spoil haulage and material movements.
- Waste: volumes by type, and how much is diverted from landfill.
Social procurement
- Supplier spend: spend with targeted supplier groups such as local businesses, social enterprises and Indigenous-owned businesses.
- Labour hours: hours worked by apprentices, trainees, local workers and other targeted groups, against total project hours.
- Training: training delivered, qualifications gained and work placements offered.
- Subcontractor contribution: what each subcontractor is delivering against their share of the targets.
Common challenges
Most reporting problems come down to a few recurring issues:
- Data collected in different spreadsheets by different people, in different units and formats.
- Subcontractor returns that arrive late, incomplete or not at all.
- No evidence attached, so figures cannot be checked when the client asks.
- Monthly reports built from scratch each time, which leaves room for errors and double counting.
- Targets only reviewed at the end of the project, when it is too late to change course.
- Personal worker information shared more widely than it needs to be.
Best practices
- Start from the contract. List every sustainability target and reporting requirement at project start, and agree how each one will be measured.
- Standardise the inputs. Use the same forms, fields and units across the project so every month’s data can be compared.
- Make key fields mandatory. Quantity, date, company and supporting evidence should not be optional.
- Collect monthly, not at the end. Set a fixed cut-off date for site teams and subcontractors, and follow up straight away when returns are missing.
- Push requirements down the supply chain. Include reporting obligations in subcontracts and give subcontractors a simple, consistent way to submit.
- Keep the evidence with the record. Attach dockets, invoices and timesheets to the entry they support.
- Review progress against targets every month and act early where the project is falling behind.
- Protect personal information. Limit who can see worker-level data and report aggregated figures wherever possible.
How Glaass Supports Sustainability Tracking
Glaass Pro’s Sustainability module brings emissions and social procurement data into the same platform teams already use for quality, safety and environment. With Glaass, project teams can:
- Capture emissions and other sustainability data in Sustainability Records configured around the project’s own reportable targets, with fields for dates, companies, locations and more.
- Record workforce development and participation hours each month, with mandatory fields and controlled entries so data stays consistent for reporting.
- Run sustainability inspection checklists to track compliance against project targets, with photos and documents as evidence.
- Report progress through registers and analytics dashboards, export to Excel or Power BI, and send information automatically to the groups that report on it.
- Control who can see what through user types and permissions.
Final thoughts
Emissions and social procurement targets are only as credible as the data behind them. Agree what you will measure at the start, collect it the same way every month, keep the evidence attached and review progress while there is still time to act.
If your team is still pulling sustainability reports together from spreadsheets and email attachments, it is worth seeing how Glaass keeps that data structured and ready to report. You can find out more at glaass.net.
FAQ
What are Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in construction?
Scope 1 covers direct emissions, such as diesel burned by plant and generators on site. Scope 2 covers emissions from purchased electricity. Scope 3 covers indirect emissions across the wider supply chain, such as the production and transport of materials and the disposal of waste.
What is social procurement in construction?
Social procurement is using a project’s purchasing and hiring to deliver social value, such as buying from local businesses and social enterprises, or creating jobs and training for apprentices, trainees and people facing barriers to work.
How often should sustainability data be reported?
It depends on the contract, but monthly reporting is common. Collecting data monthly also makes it easier to spot when a project is falling behind a target and correct course early.
How do you get subcontractors to report sustainability data?
Include reporting obligations in the subcontract, give subcontractors a simple standard format to submit through, set a fixed monthly cut-off, and follow up promptly when returns are missing.
