We are wakening up to the potential impact that Embodied Carbon assessments will have on the industry. No doubt the heaviest weight will lie with manufacturers in preparing calculations for all products in their ranges, but contractors will also have to consider delivery and installation. We are not yet certain of our role as consultants in the process, other than ensuring all equipment specified has an assessment and the overall sum sits within the fit-out target.
So, who is asking for these assessments to be done. This is not yet a regulation, however, City of London have recently announced that an embodied carbon assessment must be submitted with planning applications. The target is contributing towards NETZERO20250.
According to the World Green Building Council
“By 2030, all new buildings, infrastructure and renovations will have at least 40% less embodied carbon with significant upfront carbon reduction, and all new buildings are net zero operational carbon.
By 2050, new buildings, infrastructure and renovations will have net zero embodied carbon, and all buildings, including existing buildings must be net zero operational carbon.”
We often work on projects that have an overall programme beyond 5 years, so we really must start embracing this now.
In July 2024 Overbury released a 2 part report 'Counting the upfront carbon in Cat B office fit out' (links below). Contained within Part 2 was a section on Catering Equipment. The results highlighted that the catering industry needs to catch up.
Only 47 of 107 manufacturers provided usable material data
Only 7 out of 107 manufacturers had responsible sourcing certificates (ISO14001 or BES6001)
Only 2 out of 107 manufacturers had end-of-life policies
https://lnkd.in/gbAuBu-X
https://lnkd.in/e2ZzVfu7
Collectively as an industry we need to tackle this, it crept up on us at SHW but we can now see the significance it will have in the future.
