Construction companies could have to cut the amount of carbon they use when building homes and offices, if a Norfolk MP's bill becomes law.

North Norfolk Conservative MP Duncan Baker introduced his Carbon Emissions (Buildings) Bill in the House of Commons on Wednesday (February 2).

That bill would bring in the legislation which would mean the construction industry would need to measure, report, and reduce 'embodied carbon'.

Embodied carbon includes CO2 emissions from construction, including from the materials used and in the process of building.

Mr Baker said much attention had been given to reducing carbon used in homes, such as through lighting and heating.

But he said less focus had been directed at cutting the carbon impacts during the actual construction of buildings - which he said produces 50 million tonnes of carbon each year.

Of his bill, he said: "We are a global leader in decarbonisation in so many ways.

"When we talk about it in relation to homes, it is about heating and the power in buildings.

"But what we do not look at so much is the construction of those buildings themselves.

"In my view, we are missing a trick to reduce significant a part of our UK carbon emissions by introducing embodied carbon regulation in conjunction with the construction industry – an industry that is clear that it is ready to report its embodied carbon emissions, and reduce them to reasonable limits.

"If the UK is to continue to be a global leader in decarbonisation, we need to catch up with the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Denmark, Finland, the USA and New Zealand who are either moving to introduce embodied carbon regulation, or have already done it."

Mr Baker said he had been supported by the Institution of Structural Engineers in working up his bill, introduced using the ten minute rule bill process.

He said: "At the end of the day, steel, concrete and cement is very bad for the environment.

"We can build more sustainably. We can build out of beautiful, natural materials, we can retrofit.

"It's time to stop putting embodied carbon off as a possible future area to explore and it is time now to get embodied carbon regulated."

His bill will get its second reading on Friday, March 18.