Whole life embodied carbon: the new priority
One thing is clear from our recent survey of real estate professionals: managing the whole life embodied carbon of developments and refurbishments is an important priority this year. In this article, our experts unpack why understanding whole life embodied carbon is so important, how to manage it effectively, and how we can support you.
Why focus on whole life embodied carbon?
Whole life embodied carbon has always been a major contributor to total building emissions, so monitoring and reporting on it is critical for any net zero pathway. Lately, however, market leading real estate organisations are discovering that the management of whole life embodied carbon is a competitive advantage, providing long-term value, resilience, and cost reduction. Here’s why:
Managing whole life embodied carbon early can avoid carbon lock-ins and reduce lifecycle costs
The real estate sector is moving from climate-related planning towards the
When asked about the benefits of managing whole life embodied carbon at an early stage, Principal Consultant Leah McCabe said: ‘It’s essential to manage embodied carbon emissions early if you want to achieve whole-life objectives. Whole life embodied carbon assessments give you a complete picture of a project’s carbon impact, allowing you to identify savings upfront as well as across the whole life of each building.’
Investor and market demand for whole life embodied carbon reporting is increasing.
Whole life embodied carbon is becoming more defined, regulations are expanding, and investors now expect granular reporting with increased transparency. Therefore, collecting and managing the relevant data early allows you to stay ahead of the rising need for accurate and compliant measurement and disclosure.
What’s the most effective way to manage whole life embodied carbon?
Set a whole life embodied carbon target
Define your ambition, understand your stakeholder needs, and develop a realistic science-based target, making sure it’s tailored to your projects. Setting this kind of target demonstrates leadership and ambition. It also enables wise decision-making and long-term resilience.
Develop a strategy for meeting your target
You need a practical plan, backed by data analysis, benchmarking and insight, that aligns with business and investor needs and carbon budget trajectories. It’s worth bringing in third-party advisors at this stage, because a strategy based on sound data, specialist expertise, and industry knowledge allows you to maintain confidence throughout its implementation.
Invest in whole life embodied carbon assessments
A whole life embodied carbon assessment gives you a complete picture of a project’s carbon impact. It supports the identification of carbon reduction opportunities at each stage of the lifecycle, demonstrates transparency and accountability, and provides opportunities to collaborate with suppliers to reduce your overall emissions.
Use the outputs of these assessments to support other disclosures
The outputs of a whole life or upfront embodied carbon assessment can feed into other mandatory and voluntary disclosures, making those processes easier. Examples are GHG reporting, CDP and GRESB.
How can we support you?
At BIP.Verco, we can support you at every stage of the journey described above. We have proven expertise in working with whole life embodied carbon, and can help you:
- stay competitive, efficient and compliant by setting targets, integrating them into wider business objectives, and developing a realistic strategy;
- identify upfront savings and reduce future risk by conducting detailed whole life embodied carbon assessments tailored to your organisation’s scope and objectives;
- build confidence in your data through desk-based and onsite building audits that measure operational emissions; and
- streamline your reporting by producing a report explaining the data and outlining how it can integrate with your other climate-related disclosures.