Name: Embodied carbon: What it is and why industry should address it now
Uploaded: 2023-08-01T14:39:45.558Z
Duration: 400.8

MIMS Embodied Carbon V4_FINAL.mp4

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Greenbuild 365

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{{00:00:00}}
Hi my name is Fernando Arias and I am Clark
Construction's National Director of Sustainability.

{{00:00:05}}
I come to this topic because construction is a
significant contribution to global greenhouse gas

{{00:00:10}}
emissions and working to reduce those emissions
is key for us to take action on climate change.

{{00:00:35}}
Embodied carbon is a concept about the residual type of
emissions related to building materials and construction.

{{00:00:46}}
So the question about embodied carbon
is a really frequent one these days.

{{00:00:51}}
And that's as a result of industry really understanding how
to account all of the various stages of energy consumption

{{00:00:59}}
during the extraction fabrication, production, delivery,
installation of building materials, as well as all of the

{{00:01:09}}
different equipment and machines and people and operations
on construction sites and that portion of carbon emissions

{{00:01:17}}
was previously on the accounted for and misunderstood.

{{00:01:21}}
And traditionally the industry has really understood
much better operational carbon because we've been

{{00:01:27}}
collecting a variety of metrics like kilowatt
hours and electricity, utility bills, and all of

{{00:01:34}}
these things combined have been the traditional way
that the real estate sector has understood carbon.

{{00:01:41}}
So embodied carbon is an aspect of
the full life cycle of a building.

{{00:01:51}}
Embodied carbon is a really, really significant issue.

{{00:01:54}}
According to Architecture 2030 about 50%
of global greenhouse gas emissions are

{{00:02:01}}
associated with the built environment.

{{00:02:03}}
What that really means is about 20% of those emissions
are associated with the building's operations.

{{00:02:11}}
And then 27% of greenhouse gas emissions are related
to this embodied carbon aspect of a building.

{{00:02:19}}
It's quite a significant issue
if we're trying to stay below 1.

{{00:02:24}}
5 Celsius and take action on climate change impacts.

{{00:02:27}}
And at the global scale this is something that's
so difficult to track, especially in markets where

{{00:02:36}}
there's even less understanding around materiality
and other aspects of construction materials.

{{00:02:47}}
This matters for a variety of reasons.

{{00:02:49}}
Firstly, a lot of industry pressure is
currently driving these conversations.

{{00:02:57}}
Industry pressure, by the way relates to both
public sector actions like buy clean policies

{{00:03:04}}
and other federal policies in the United States.

{{00:03:06}}
Globally as well, many of these kinds of policies
are emerging and then more recently, the Securities

{{00:03:12}}
Exchange Commission here in the United States
publishing a draft climate change ruling,  potentially

{{00:03:20}}
also requiring publicly traded companies to
report their carbon emissions on an annual basis.

{{00:03:26}}
And so this is quite significant on the, you know,
demand side  of understanding why this issue is

{{00:03:33}}
something that general contractors like Clark
Construction needs to be able to respond with.

{{00:03:40}}
So ultimately, I think when we look at the materiality
or the significance of this topic for us in construction

{{00:03:47}}
and then broadly for this industry, I think it will
be a key differentiator in the next decade ahead to

{{00:03:55}}
know that there are reliable and verifiable aspects
of carbon accounting on construction projects.

{{00:04:06}}
The first one is establishing some kind of a
carbon management plan, and that really means

{{00:04:13}}
looking at what exactly are the various scopes
of emissions that an organization can do.

{{00:04:22}}
Scope emissions gets into some terminology that I think
is slightly advanced, but let's just say that everything

{{00:04:29}}
that consumes energy, energy is in form of electricity
or fuels, understanding where those sources are coming

{{00:04:38}}
from, tracking those sources and working to evolve and
understanding around how to align the management of

{{00:04:45}}
those energy resources as part of a business strategy.

{{00:04:49}}
Those are the most fundamental things.

{{00:04:51}}
Pro tip: seek out external support to learn more
about different frameworks that exist globally.

{{00:04:58}}
And understand how all of those frameworks can help to
drive sustainability business strategy in this space.

{{00:05:10}}
It is possible to achieve carbon
neutrality in the construction sector.

{{00:05:13}}
I just expect that markets will need to grow to be able
to fully capitalise on the value of decarbonisation,

{{00:05:22}}
which is currently not there, dependent on significant
carbon offsets and without clear standards, as well

{{00:05:33}}
as requirements for general contractors to be able to
perform to operationally reduce carbon it's still quite

{{00:05:40}}
a long road ahead to truly achieve carbon neutrality.

{{00:05:45}}
But it is possible.

{{00:05:47}}
It's just that it's incumbent on the different
emitters to also work with a variety of value

{{00:05:54}}
chain partners to achieve this goal together.

{{00:06:02}}
Really understanding the impact of your
electricity consumption to start with.

{{00:06:06}}
I believe fuels is a much more challenging sector on the
transportation side and whether you own vehicles or not.

{{00:06:14}}
It's dependent on the type of business, but electricity,
understanding the conversion of electricity to CO2,

{{00:06:21}}
carbon dioxide, and to be able to track that and
work to reduce the impacts of carbon dioxide on the

{{00:06:30}}
electricity sources that you have in your business is key.

Hi my name is Fernando Arias and I am Clark
Construction's National Director of Sustainability.

I come to this topic because construction is a
significant contribution to global greenhouse gas

emissions and working to reduce those emissions
is key for us to take action on climate change.

Embodied carbon is a concept about the residual type of
emissions related to building materials and construction.

So the question about embodied carbon
is a really frequent one these days.

And that's as a result of industry really understanding how
to account all of the various stages of energy consumption

during the extraction fabrication, production, delivery,
installation of building materials, as well as all of the

different equipment and machines and people and operations
on construction sites and that portion of carbon emissions

was previously on the accounted for and misunderstood.

And traditionally the industry has really understood
much better operational carbon because we've been

collecting a variety of metrics like kilowatt
hours and electricity, utility bills, and all of

these things combined have been the traditional way
that the real estate sector has understood carbon.

So embodied carbon is an aspect of
the full life cycle of a building.

Embodied carbon is a really, really significant issue.

According to Architecture 2030 about 50%
of global greenhouse gas emissions are

What that really means is about 20% of those emissions
are associated with the building's operations.

And then 27% of greenhouse gas emissions are related
to this embodied carbon aspect of a building.

It's quite a significant issue
if we're trying to stay below 1.

5 Celsius and take action on climate change impacts.

And at the global scale this is something that's
so difficult to track, especially in markets where

there's even less understanding around materiality
and other aspects of construction materials.

Firstly, a lot of industry pressure is
currently driving these conversations.

Industry pressure, by the way relates to both
public sector actions like buy clean policies

and other federal policies in the United States.

Globally as well, many of these kinds of policies
are emerging and then more recently, the Securities

Exchange Commission here in the United States
publishing a draft climate change ruling,  potentially

also requiring publicly traded companies to
report their carbon emissions on an annual basis.

And so this is quite significant on the, you know,
demand side  of understanding why this issue is

something that general contractors like Clark
Construction needs to be able to respond with.

So ultimately, I think when we look at the materiality
or the significance of this topic for us in construction

and then broadly for this industry, I think it will
be a key differentiator in the next decade ahead to

know that there are reliable and verifiable aspects
of carbon accounting on construction projects.

The first one is establishing some kind of a
carbon management plan, and that really means

looking at what exactly are the various scopes
of emissions that an organization can do.

Scope emissions gets into some terminology that I think
is slightly advanced, but let's just say that everything

that consumes energy, energy is in form of electricity
or fuels, understanding where those sources are coming

from, tracking those sources and working to evolve and
understanding around how to align the management of

those energy resources as part of a business strategy.

Pro tip: seek out external support to learn more
about different frameworks that exist globally.

And understand how all of those frameworks can help to
drive sustainability business strategy in this space.

It is possible to achieve carbon
neutrality in the construction sector.

I just expect that markets will need to grow to be able
to fully capitalise on the value of decarbonisation,

which is currently not there, dependent on significant
carbon offsets and without clear standards, as well

as requirements for general contractors to be able to
perform to operationally reduce carbon it's still quite

a long road ahead to truly achieve carbon neutrality.

It's just that it's incumbent on the different
emitters to also work with a variety of value

chain partners to achieve this goal together.

Really understanding the impact of your
electricity consumption to start with.

I believe fuels is a much more challenging sector on the
transportation side and whether you own vehicles or not.

It's dependent on the type of business, but electricity,
understanding the conversion of electricity to CO2,

carbon dioxide, and to be able to track that and
work to reduce the impacts of carbon dioxide on the

electricity sources that you have in your business is key.

Make it Make Sense

Explainer

Although the term embodied carbon is relatively new, more than a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions are directly linked to it. So what does embodied carbon mean, and how can we reduce its impact?
Fernando Arias, Director of sustainability at Clark Construction, explains why embodied carbon is a critical aspect of the construction industry's thinking about climate change, and what the industry have to do to work towards carbon neutrality.