thinkstep-anz and the New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) have released a new calculator for embodied carbon, paving the way for the building and construction industry to reduce emissions from building materials and supplies.
Our 2018 report Hotspot or not? The carbon footprint of NZ's built environment revealed buildings and infrastructure contributes up to 20% of New Zealand’s carbon emissions. Embodied carbon – stemming from the materials and products a building is made from – accounts for around half of these emissions. The industry has since been asking for a way to measure and reduce their footprint.
We and the NZGBC have worked with a sector reference group to help establish a robust approach to the calculation of embodied carbon and the methodology behind it.
“Through these discussions we’ve identified a need to develop an industry-wide approach to support the definition, scope and calculation of embodied carbon,” our Technical Director Jeff Vickers says. “We hope that the calculator and supporting documentation will help provide a consistent platform to measure embodied carbon while the Government finalises the Building for Climate Change programme.”
NZGBC Chief Executive Andrew Eagles adds, “Our industry has become increasingly aware of the pollution caused by the manufacture and production of our materials and products. Awareness is all well and good, but we need to actually start measuring the carbon footprint of our projects robustly so we can reduce it as much as possible.”
The NZGBC has recently updated its flagship Green Star certification scheme for commercial buildings, adding a requirement to reduce embodied carbon by at least 10% compared to a standard reference building.
“Several of our members and other industry bodies have developed embodied carbon calculators. This is a fantastic starting point; now we need to ensure they align. If we’re going to tackle our emissions it’s essential our sector has a consistent and comparable approach to measuring emissions,” Eagles says.
The freely available calculator has been released with a guide on how to use it. Also included is the calculator methodology, so projects using other calculators can ensure consistency.
The guidance is currently open for industry feedback through until 11 November.
1 November 2022