A quarter of the UK’s greenhouse emissions come from the built environment, encompassing the entire lifecycle of buildings—material manufacture, construction, operation, maintenance, and demolition. While policies focus on operational emissions, embodied carbon emissions (those from material production, construction, etc.) are often overlooked, yet they are substantial, exceeding aviation and shipping emissions combined. To meet net-zero targets by 2050, the UK must address Whole Life Carbon (WLC), which includes both operational and embodied carbon.

Some countries in Europe and states in the US already mandate WLC assessments, and UK proposals like CIBSE’s Approved Document Z aim to include embodied carbon in building regulations. 

Challenges include limited Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), standardised documents that detail the environmental impacts of a product throughout its lifecycle, for complex building products. 

CIBSE’s Technical Memoranda 65 is a document that offers a method to estimate embodied carbon until more comprehensive EPDs are available. Adopting embodied carbon reporting in building regulations is crucial for achieving true net-zero buildings.