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Whole Life Carbon: From Standards to Action

As we emerge from a period of intense heat, wildfire and drought, it is clear that the mitigation of further emissions is critical, alongside rapid adaptation. UKGBC have invited Simon Sturgis to demystify the three latest pieces of guidance on Whole Life Carbon so you can take action today. Simon is one of UKGBC’s #BuildingLife Roadmap Ambassadors, supporting the adoption of the Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap and the UK Climate Resilience Roadmap across the built environment sector.

The last few months have seen a lot of activity on whole life carbon (WLC), embodied carbon was discussed again in parliament this summer and two new and important publications have been released. Even for those who are engaged with WLC, this may seem bewildering and difficult to keep up with.

The UK built environment is directly responsible for 25% of the UK’s carbon emissions. UKGBC’s Whole Life Carbon Roadmap Progress Report published in March this year highlights the shortfall in reductions. Only a 14% decrease in carbon emissions is being achieved compared to the required 24% to achieve net zero by 2050, with embodied carbon emissions having risen since 2018.

The UK ‘Net Zero Carbon Building Standard’ (NZCBS) was released in March, and the UKGBC’s ‘Whole Life Carbon Framework’ was published in May. Both of these expand on the RICS 2023 standard ‘Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment’, but in different ways.

The RICS Standard, of which I was lead author, is mostly technical and covers assessment methodology, i.e. how do you actually calculate both operational and embodied emissions and then report them. This standard is effectively the foundation on which the other two publications are built. The NZCBS sets out ‘Limits’ (targets) for the carbon performance of buildings post completion. The UKGBC’s Whole Life Carbon Framework provides practical advice on how to actually get emissions down across the whole life cycle. So, these three documents work together and if you are taking carbon reduction seriously you need to be familiar with all three.

Let’s dive a bit deeper into each of these and understand why they are important.

 

Firstly, the RICS Standard. Most practitioners will undertake WLC assessments using a software tool and have no direct connection with this standard. There are several tools available, and it is worth checking that they are fully RICS compliant.

Except for WLCA geeks (like me) or assessment experts, it is not really necessary to read the whole RICS document as it is now embedded in other publications. However, the first three chapters are short, very helpful and worth having a look at. The RICS standard is now recognized as the ‘go to’ assessment methodology for the UK and is also used internationally, particularly in the middle and far east.

Secondly there is the NZCBS which is the product of an industry wide initiative to standardise carbon reporting and is based on what needs to be done on a project-by-project basis for the UK to meet its international climate change commitments such as Net Zero by 2050. Therefore, meeting the ‘Limits’ means you are making a measurable contribution to UK decarbonisation. The ‘Limits’ at this stage cover ‘Upfront’ embodied carbon (i.e. up to practical completion) and ‘Operational’ energy use. Both are to be measured post completion based on actual measured data, and not predictions. The NZCBS does require a full whole life carbon assessment to be reported, and will provide Limits to Life Cycle embodied carbon, and Whole Life Carbon once sufficiently robust data becomes available. The other feature is that the ‘Limits’ get more onerous year on year consistent with the trajectory to net zero. Generally speaking, the current Limits are achievable within the scope of current technology and budgets, provided you work to optimize resource and carbon efficiency. However, over the coming years meeting Limits is going to become more difficult which means that designs are going to have to become more efficient in terms of things like shape, reuse and material choice (‘upfront’ emissions), as well as being more durable and energy efficient (‘in use’ emissions). This is why WLC is so important as it requires integrated thinking not just between embodied and operational emissions, but also between upfront and life cycle emissions. It is worth noting that although reported measurement is post completion, clients will want to know in advance whether they are going to meet the relevant Limits. It is therefore important to undertake assessments over the RIBA design stages and make the necessary design changes as early as possible.

Rationalising these potentially conflicting requirements to achieve the optimum low carbon solutions requires good knowledge as well as practical experience.”

Which, thirdly, is where the UKGBC’s ‘Whole Life Carbon Framework’ comes in as it is the ‘how to do it’ part. In essence, the framework breaks down the actions required to reduce emissions into key ‘Delivery Principles’ to be addressed over the life cycle and practical actions required at each life cycle stage. Invariably, there will be choices to be made, for example, if you want to achieve low ‘upfront’ carbon AND low ‘in use’ carbon. Sometimes this is difficult as there can be carbon cost/benefit trade-offs such as quantity/type of insulation vs energy performance, or carbon cost of a new facade vs maintenance and replacement cycles.

Rationalising these potentially conflicting requirements to achieve the optimum low carbon solutions requires good knowledge as well as practical experience. This is fundamentally about those involved in the design of buildings developing a ‘carbon intuition’ which is where the architect or engineer has sufficient experience to develop a good understanding of the right combination of actions to produce a low carbon solution before attempting detailed calculations.

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