The Construction Shift Few are Talking About

Electrifying construction is one of Europe’s easiest wins, but only if governments act now. 

In Brussels, industrial competitiveness and decarbonisation are the talk of the town, with the Clean Industrial Deal at its centre, setting the EU’s strategic direction for innovation, green manufacturing, and clean technologies. While the focus on energy-intensive industries is well placed, there is a related and surprisingly forgotten sector that has the potential to not only reduce global emissions but to directly improve people’s lives: construction machinery. 

Non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) are the diggers, loaders, and cranes that populate our building sites and, together with agriculture & forestry machinery, account for roughly 2% of EU greenhouse gas emissions. On top of CO₂, diesel-powered machinery spews particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and deafening noise into the urban air. In dense city centres, these machines often run for hours on end, idling between tasks, emitting pollution right into the lungs of workers and residents alike. 

Non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) are the diggers, loaders, and cranes that populate our building sites and, together with agriculture & forestry machinery, account for roughly 2% of EU greenhouse gas emissions.

Electrification of these machines is already happening. At bauma, the world’s leading construction machinery trade fair which took place in April 2025, many manufacturers boasted a truly impressive catalogue of zero-emission machinery, with some big players even having a fully zero-emission line-up. 

Unlike ships or planes, most construction machinery operates within a confined site, with limited daily movement and predictable duty cycles, which makes it technically far easier to electrify. Battery-electric excavators, loaders, and dumpers are already on the market in multiple weight classes. In China, entire fleets of electric wheel loaders operate commercially, supported by a growing domestic manufacturing base. In Europe, frontrunners like Oslo, Amsterdam, and Utrecht have proven that zero-emission construction sites (ZECS) work not just in pilot form, but at scale. Two examples are Amsterdam’s canal restoration project and Oslo’s Lia nursery school. Oslo in particular has run more than 200 ZECS projects since 2020; as of 2025, 100% of municipal construction sites are emission-free. The Netherlands has introduced a dedicated scheme – the Clean and Emission-Free Construction (SSEB) program – to support contractors in purchasing or retrofitting zero-emission machinery, accelerating market uptake and helping domestic manufacturers stay competitive. 

So why haven’t more European governments moved to replicate this success? Some cite higher upfront costs, while others raise concerns about market readiness. Yet total cost of ownership analyses increasingly show that electric machinery can match and even beat diesel over a project’s lifetime, thanks to lower maintenance needs, reduced fuel costs, and longer operational lifespans (1). All this without mentioning the added benefits to workers’ health and comfort. 

The real problem is policy inertia. The EU’s Clean Vehicles Directive, which sets binding procurement targets for public authorities to buy clean vehicles, completely excludes construction machinery. Public procurement, potentially the single most powerful lever to boost market demand, is vastly underused. Most public tenders still award contracts on lowest price alone, sidelining environmental performance criteria. National climate plans rarely mention NRMM at all. 

This is a strategic mistake, not only for climate policy but for Europe’s industrial competitiveness. China’s rapid scaling of electric construction machinery, backed by industrial policy and procurement mandates, threatens to leave European manufacturers behind. The electric vehicle sector offers a cautionary tale: years of industry resistance in Europe opened the door for China to dominate global EV manufacturing. Yet instead of fully embracing the zero-emission shift as the business opportunity it represent, parts of the industry remain stuck in the past, such as in the recent “Joint Statement for Decarbonisation” by The Global Alliance for Construction Equipment (GACE) which, remarkably, still promotes diesel-powered machinery as part of a so-called decarbonisation pathway. Without clear regulatory signals and demand-side incentives, this reluctance risks ceding the market entirely to global competitors who are not hesitating to act. 

Without clear regulatory signals and demand-side incentives, this reluctance risks ceding the market entirely to global competitors who are not hesitating to act. 

The good news is that this is one of the easiest decarbonisation wins available. With limited mobility requirements, confined operations, and readily available technology, ZECS could go from pilot to mainstream on a purely commercial basis, if governments would just create the right conditions. That means: 

• Expanding the Clean Vehicles Directive to include construction machinery in its 2027 revision, and calling for the overdue revision on the Non-Road Mobile Machinery Regulation. 

• Making climate-aligned award criteria mandatory in public tenders, in line with the “most economically advantageous tender” principle. 

• Supporting grid access and charging infrastructure for construction sites. 

• Providing transitional incentives to de-risk early adoption, especially for SMEs. 

Electric construction machinery is a rare climate policy gift: low-hanging fruit that delivers immediate environmental, health, and economic benefits, while strengthening European industry. The technology is ready. Cities are proving it works. All that’s missing is the political will to pick it. 

(1) Hafslund Rådgivning and Oslo Economics recently found that in large construction projects, the additional cost of electric operation is just 1–5%, and expected to shrink further by 2030.