GNFZ Certification: An Unparalleled Focus and Accounting for Embodied Emissions
When it comes to achieving net zero and realizing our climate goals, there’s a hidden piece of the carbon puzzle we can’t afford to ignore: Embodied emissions. Identifying and implementing strategies for eliminating embodied emissions in the building sector represents a critical step to scaling net zero certification, decarbonizing the built environment, advancing new technologies and beyond.
What are Embodied Emissions?
Embodied emissions (or embodied carbon) refer to the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with building materials and construction processes throughout the entire lifecycle of a building. These include emissions generated from the extraction and manufacturing of materials, the transportation of construction materials to a project site, construction practices, on-going maintenance of completed construction projects and upon completion of the building lifecycle, demolition, construction debris transport and material recycling.
Unlike operational carbon — which are the carbon emissions released during the daily use of a building, product or process such as from lighting, heating, cooling, etc. — embodied carbon is “locked in” before a building is even occupied, meaning its impact is realized upfront before a building is even used, making efforts to reduce embodied emissions after occupancy not possible.
Why are Embodied Emissions Important?
According to the World Green Building Council, embodied emissions from buildings account for an astonishing 11% of global carbon emissions, and as buildings become more energy efficient and their operational footprints decrease, this percentage is only expected to grow. In fact, embodied carbon is expected to account for nearly half of the overall carbon footprint of new construction between now and 2050, so its’ becoming an increasingly important aspect of green buildings.
And to reach true net zero, all stakeholders in the construction industry including manufacturers, architects, engineers, contractors, trade groups and public sector advocates must make sure that they are designing and constructing projects with embedded materials and methodologies that don’t “cancel out” or negate those gained through the operational efficiencies and technologies that the industry has promoted and scaled over the past decade.
How does GNFZ Certification Account for and Address Embodied Carbon?
At GNFZ, we’ve made addressing and accounting for embodied emissions a core part of our certification. Because GNFZ follows the sector-specific guidelines for buildings laid out in the GHG Protocol, our certifications account for embodied emissions. While most frameworks focus mostly on operational emissions, GNFZ places a high priority on addressing all aspects of carbon mitigation – both operational and embodied – across Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
For new construction and operational net zero certification, GNFZ certification takes a comprehensive approach to understanding the life cycle stages of embodied carbon using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) framework which provides a clear breakdown of the opportunities to address embodied carbon through scientific measurements of environmental impact.
The life cycle stages of embodied carbon, as mentioned above, using the LCA framework are typically categorized as:
Product Stage A1–A3: These categories represent the environmental impact associated with energy and emissions associated with raw materials supply (extraction, harvesting and processing) (A1); the fuel type, distance and mode of transportation to get the raw materials to the manufacturing facility (A2); and the impact of the manufacturing process including energy use and waste generation, among others (A3).
Construction Stage A4–A5: These categories are related to all impacts regarding the transportation of materials to the actual construction site (A4) and the installation of materials and products into the building, including any waste and its disposal (A5).
Use Stage B1-B7: These categories represent different categories to understand and mitigate the impact of embodied and in the case of energy and water use operational carbon over the entire lifecycle of the building. They include the use of the installed product or systems (B1); its maintenance (B2); its repair (B3); its eventual replacement (B4); and its refurbishment (B5). The operational energy use and operational water use (B6) is calculated under operational, not embodied emissions.
End-Of-Life Stage C1–C4: These categories represent the different stages of the demolition of the building/project at the end of its use. These categories encompass de-construction and demolition (C1); the transportation of the deconstructed materials to the aligned waste processing facilities (C2); the reuse, recovery and recycling processes at the facilities (C3); and finally, waste disposal (C4).
Benefits and Loads Beyond the System Boundary: Module D (Beyond System Boundary): This module considers the net benefits arising from the recycling and reuse of products and the recovery of energy from end-of waste materials beyond the anticipated life cycle of the constructions project. In other words, how recycled and reused materials and products from deconstructed buildings can mitigate carbon in future products through their reuse.
GNFZ’s Net Zero Certification Program for Buildings addresses the opportunities to mitigate embodied carbon emissions across three critical stages: Design, Construction and Operations.
For design, GNFZ offers a Net Zero Design certification that assesses upfront embodied emissions (A1-A5) based on the selected building materials. This assessment is estimated from the designed bill of materials that are set to be procured. GNFZ recommends tools like LCA, EPDs, and GWP metrics to estimate emissions.
For construction, GNFZ offers a Net Zero Construction certification that assesses embodied emissions that is based on the actual bill of materials that was used at the end of the construction process — accounting for material/process change orders and over or under usage. The certification also accounts for emissions due to electricity, fuel and other resourced consumed exclusively for the purpose of construction.
For operations, GNFZ offers a Net Zero Operations certification that considers embodied emissions from major retrofits or materials/product replacement during the operational phase of the building’s lifecycle. During a retrofit, the certification aims to review Scope 3 emissions, including embodied carbon, across all 15 categories for operational emissions across the GHG Protocol. These emissions are treated as one-time impacts and can be offset immediately for retrofits of over a mutually agreed upon period not exceeding 10 years for a new construction project.
Embodied emissions are a critical component of a building’s total carbon footprint and must be addressed to scale net zero performance across the building and construction sectors. From the design phase to construction to operations, we account for embodied carbon at every stage across the entire building lifecycle. That means more accurate data, and more meaningful progress toward net zero. Because if we’re serious about decarbonizing the built environment, we have to focus on embodied emissions.
For more information on GNFZ’s globally recognized net zero certification programs, please visit: https://www.globalnetworkforzero.com/net-zero-buildings.
