Actions for reducing embodied carbon at your fingertips
WHAT IS EMBODIED CARBON?
Embodied carbon represents the carbon emissions associated with making building products and construction, from raw material extraction to manufacturing, transportation, and end of life disposal or recycling. Embodied carbon represents a significant amount of annual global carbon emissions, and yet there is incredible opportunity for embodied carbon reduction through material selection and specification, and through design.
WHY EMBODIED CARBON?
Annually, embodied carbon is responsible for 11% of global GHG emissions and 28% of global building sector emissions. It is anticipated that embodied carbon will be responsible for 72% of the carbon emissions associated with global new construction between now and 2030. It is therefore crucial to address embodied emissions now to disrupt our current emissions trend, and because the embodied emissions of a building are locked in once the building is constructed and cannot be taken back or reduced.
AN ATTRIBUTE-BASED APPROACH
The Carbon Smart Materials Palette contains an attribute-based approach to embodied carbon reductions in the built environment. It identifies key attributes that contribute to a material’s embodied carbon impact, and offers guidelines and options for emissions reductions. The Carbon Smart Materials Palette is designed to support and complement Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), while providing highly impactful guidelines for low/no carbon material selections and specifications.