Once an underreported issue, embodied carbon is now the foundation upon which responsible whole-life carbon reporting must be built, writes Dr Lee Jones, head of sustainability at Hubexo
Before anyone moves into a new building, most of its carbon problem is already set in stone. Once the tools are down, the emissions locked into its structure during practical construction in most cases remain fixed. For several years, the industry has been tightening its control over operational carbon, while one category has received less structured, systematic attention. It is known as upfront embodied carbon, and the industry is now working to address it with the same rigour and consistency it has brought to operational performance.
Upfront embodied carbon covers all the emissions locked into a building from the extraction, manufacture, transport and installation of materials. For a typical office building, these fixed emissions can account for around 35% of total lifecycle carbon. For highly efficient structures, where operational energy use has been minimised, that figure can reach as high as 75%. The scale of the problem is significant, and the urgency is real.
The built environment is responsible for approximately two-fifths of global carbon emissions, and UK construction generates roughly three-fifths of all waste. If we are serious about meeting our climate commitments, then getting embodied carbon reporting right is critical.
Industry is beginning to act
A genuine shift is under way. According to the NBS Digital Construction Report 2025, three in five construction professionals now use digital technology to measure embodied carbon, up from two in five in 2023. Over half are now using digital tools for lifecycle analysis, compared with just one in three two years ago. Nearly 90% of professionals agree that digital technologies are having a positive environmental impact on construction.
These are encouraging numbers. But progress in measurement does not automatically translate into progress in accuracy. An AECOM assessment of industry readiness for embodied carbon regulation found up to 70% variation in embodied carbon calculations depending on the methodology used. That level of inconsistency makes reliable benchmarking near impossible and undermines trust.
What the industry needed was standardised, practical guidance that professionals can apply consistently within their existing workflows.
A practical framework for BIM workflows
In March 2026, NBS, in partnership with Circular Ecology, published the NBS Guide: Embodied Carbon Calculations: How to Apply Carbon Values to BIM Objects. Circular Ecology are the authors of the Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) database, one of the most trusted sources of embodied carbon data available for UK construction. The collaboration brings that expertise directly into the tools that designers, specifiers and engineers already use every day.
The guide provides a practical, repeatable methodology for embedding upfront carbon data, covering lifecycle stages A1 to A5 as defined under BS EN 15804, with additional guidance on applying them directly into BIM objects, for early-stage design use. It defines materials via four typical object types: Layered Items, Layered Assemblies, Items and Composite Assemblies, and provides clear calculation methods for each. The approach is geometry-led, using material properties to generate meaningful carbon values in a transparent and auditable way.
Every design decision made without embodied carbon data is a missed opportunity to reduce our industry’s environmental footprint. This guide gives professionals the means to make informed carbon choices from day one, as a straightforward part of the workflows they already rely on.
Getting ahead of the curve
Regulatory change is coming. Construction-focused upfront, and potentially whole-life, carbon assessments are noted as implementors for the UK government to achieve its Carbon Budget 5 commitments (between 2028 and 2032).
Comprehensive carbon reporting across the project lifecycle is therefore expected to become the norm. Organisations that build carbon competency now will be better placed to meet those requirements and, crucially, to turn them into a genuine competitive advantage. Clients are already demanding greater environmental transparency, and that demand will only grow.
The tools, the data and the guidance are coming together. What matters most now is whether the industry is willing to use them consistently, rigorously and early. Tracking upfront embodied carbon from project inception delivers the greatest impact. Early design decisions shape the majority of a building’s environmental footprint. Leave it to later stages and the opportunities narrow significantly.
Embodied carbon used to be an underreported issue but today, it is the foundation upon which responsible whole-life carbon reporting must be built. The sooner we treat it that way, the better placed we will be to deliver the net zero future our industry aims to build.
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