Embodied Carbon Fundamentals
For decades, building sustainability has been largely focused on building energy efficiency and operational carbon. And the industry has made tremendous progress—with the University of California being strong leaders in adopting a shift in how academia gets built. With the transition to greater energy efficiency and electrification with renewables, the majority of emissions from new construction will come from embodied carbon --particularly as the electrical grid continues to decarbonize (to carbon neutral by 2045 in California).
Embodied carbon is defined by the emissions from mining, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, transportation, installation, and eventual disposal of building materials. These emissions include the energy and pollution from smelting steel, producing cement, and diesel used to haul products to site. Unlike operational carbon where emissions are released over time as energy is used, the environmental costs of embodied carbon are incurred before the first light switch is flipped or student steps foot in a classroom.
The U.S. industrial sector is linked to nearly a third of annual U.S. greenhouse (GHG) emissions, and the manufacturing of construction materials and products accounts for 15% of annual global GHG emissions. For comparison, the aviation sector contributes approximately 2.5%.