Building decarbonisation will fail without whole-life carbon accounting
Improved data transparency and unified net zero certification standards have also been identified as crucial as efforts to tackle 40% of global carbon emissions stalls.
In the first progress update of the Market Transformation Action Agenda, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development [WBCSD] emphasised the importance of speeding up carbon reduction across the built environment. Currently, this area of the economy accounts for almost half of the planet’s entire CO2 footprint.
However, this process is currently ‘stalled’ due to major issues with how carbon accounting is done, access to information, and a lack of robust measurement system. Greater data transparency, a unified net zero certification standard and compulsory whole-life carbon [WLC] measurements must be introduced to support the journey to net zero buildings, particularly in terms of retrofitting and modernising ageing stock.
‘In the past few years, many countries took a step forward and initiated some of the critical strategies, but in reality, they work as isolated, national frameworks rather than global strategies,’ said Donatas Karčiauskas, CEO of Exergio, which manufacturers energy performance tools for buildings. ‘For example, in Europe, only Norway requires WLC disclosure for renovation projects. All the other countries only use these policies for new buildings, but in the meantime, the biggest emitters are the old ones. We’re at the alarming stage, and only a few countries have limit values in their regulations.’
Transparency of data was found to be a huge obstacle, with Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions often masked or underreported as a result. While acknowledging that some progress is now being made on carbon reductions relating to building operations, the pathways to built environment net zero targets are still being overshot due to these issues.
‘The lack of data makes standardization of built environment decarbonization much harder. Even though the progress update focuses on Scope 3 emissions, we want to emphasize that direct energy-related emissions shouldn’t be forgotten,’ Karčiauskas continued. ‘Our first-hand experience with large office complexes showed that real-time data collection and AI-based analysis are key to reducing energy waste. We could reduce energy waste by up to 20%.
‘The built environment is still lagging,’ Karčiauskas noted. ‘The WBCSD’s progress update is clear: many asset owners feel like they are better at sustainability measures than they are. Inconsistent standards are allowing companies to appear more sustainable–due to that, aligning certifications globally is a non-negotiable next step.’
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Image: Krzysztof Kotkowicz