Introba’s Louise Hamot explains why an understanding of embodied carbon is essential to achieving carbon reduction goals and how the industry can accurately carry out these assessments.
The conversation around achieving net zero is increasingly turning towards how we measure and reduce the embodied carbon of new designs. The emphasis used to be on driving operational energy efficiency, but more and more property teams are recognising that, although relevant, this is only part of the picture.
Embodied carbon is starting to be factored into planning conversations too. The City of London recently became one of the first planning authorities in the UK to require detailed carbon impact reviews for development applications that are over 1,000 sq m and where the proposal is to knock down most of an existing structure. This means that developers need to show their workings on carbon reduction in the design phase.
The challenge is that the data needed to calculate the embodied carbon of different design decisions and systems hasn’t existed in an accessible and organised way before. There also hasn’t been a single, shared method across the industry, meaning inconsistencies exist in the outcomes. Getting these elements in place is essential, particularly if we want to compare, contrast and learn from different assessments.
We’ve been working with RICS to address those inconsistencies, creating a holistic and clear whole life carbon accounting methodology and integrating this into RICS’ guidance to drive better design decisions. For these changes to become embedded and make a real difference in the long-term, they have to be unambiguous, consistent and watertight.
This is also aligned with our research work with the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) to create a standardised, open-source methodology for measuring the embodied carbon of mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) products and systems. MEP elements are often excluded from assessments as environmental product declarations aren’t available, but our research shows that MEP services can account for up to 70% of a building’s embodied carbon footprint if not considered carefully.
The work has highlighted the importance of bringing together leaders from different disciplines and creating a more open culture of knowledge sharing in property and construction. We are now using it to establish rules of thumb for the industry as a whole, empowering developers and their partners to make better and more informed choices about buildings early on in the design phase and close in on net zero ambitions.
Louise Hamot is the global lead for sustainability research at Introba.
