No false starts: The race to reduce embodied carbon

Embodied carbon is not a new topic, yet many in the industry are hesitant or unsure how to approach it. Daniel Hess, Sustainability Specialist REPM, discusses how and why real estate investors need to start tackling their embodied carbon emissions, and quickly.

The answer is now. Not tomorrow, not next year. With around one third of a building’s total emissions created before it has ever been used, embodied carbon is a crucial piece of the real estate emission puzzle.

There are at least as many reasons to push embodied carbon down the agenda, as there are to prioritize it. Not enough information, lack of quality data, lack of standardized approaches, lack of understanding and, of course, the issue of weighing up costs and benefits. Adding the question of ‘who is responsible for it in the first place?’, will only result in kicking the embodied carbon can further down the road.

But this sounds eerily familiar. Did we not face the same concerns and challenges a few years ago when the building industry started to confront the topic of operational carbon? Data was a challenge back then (in many cases it still is today) and many people were unfamiliar with terms like scope 1, 2 and 3. Expertise and knowledge of how to measure and calculate a building’s emissions were scarce too. And capital wasn’t readily available; the business case for splashing out on increased data collection efforts and implement improvement measures had not been made. However, the market reacted and we are seeing the results now.

So why did people start tackling operational emissions, despite the challenges? Public pressure, regulatory requirements, investor demand, the conviction this is the right thing to do for the environment, its people and the planet; was it the fear of the consequences of doing nothing? Or was it simply the strategic incentive of preserving, or possibly even increasing, the value of a property? Probably a combination. In the end it does not really matter; but we are glad the movement started.

Similar trends are starting to surface for embodied carbon emissions. Regulators and international standard setters are pushing the topic up the agenda; the market too is starting to ask if whole life carbon analysis is considered as investors sign up to their own sustainable commitments.

This trend should gain further traction as operational emissions shrink vis-à-vis embodied emissions. It is becoming apparent to everyone that we need to reduce the whole “pie” of carbon emissions. The focus is likely to shift more towards embodied carbon within the lifecycle of a property in the future, as operational emissions continue to fall.

Embodied carbon analysis as part of a whole life carbon assessment is often broken down into the key stages of a building’s life cycle. It starts with the product/design stage, followed by the construction phase, the use and operational stage and finishes with the end of life stage. While embodied emissions can and should be reduced across all stages of the cycle, it is recognized that the most impact can usually be achieved in the first two stages – often referred to as upfront carbon, which can account for two thirds or more of the total embodied emission – when the main design and structural decisions are taken and relevant materials are selected, produced, transported and installed.

Since embodied and operational carbon are interdependent, a holistic assessment should be undertaken.

So, when will we start to deal with embodied carbon in a systematic manner? There won’t be a clear starting shot across all markets, but in this race there is no such thing as a false start and accompanying warning card. There are already many players waiting on the starting line – some have already started to run. It will not be a sprint and there are many hurdles to clear, some of which we might fall at. But we must keep running and trying, we will reach the finishing line eventually.

On a positive note, we are not alone; many of our stakeholders are already running or lining up. After all, one person’s scope 3 emissions is part of another’s scope 1 or 2. This is a team race and players are collaborating to solve this monumental challenge together, we can’t win it alone. So, on your marks, get set, go!