As the homebuilding sector rapidly reduces the ’operational’ carbon emissions of new homes through new standards in 2021 and 2025, the next big area of focus is the ‘embodied’ emissions arising in the products, construction and maintenance of homes and, in total terms, the ’Whole Life Carbon’ (WLC) performance of homes.
This report summarises a first phase of work undertaken by the homebuilding industry in collaboration with relevant government, expert and stakeholder bodies through the Future Homes Hub (FHH) to tackle embodied and whole life carbon in new homes.
The aims of this initial phase of work have been to:
- establish an initial baseline of whole life carbon emissions for new homes
- evaluate the potential to reduce embodied and whole life carbon
- propose a framework of measurement suitable for new homes
- develop a roadmap and implementation plan to support the sector in measuring and reducing whole life carbon.
The report finds that embodied carbon in new low-rise homes is lower than originally estimated, but clearly there is more work to do. It concludes that there are currently important gaps in the framework for collecting data and measuring WLC consistently. The report then identifies the actions needed for an effective and smart approach to measuring and reducing carbon at all stages of the new development lifecycle.
Click here to find out more about the Future Homes Hub’s work on embodied and whole life carbon.