The window for solving climate change is narrowing; any solution must include embodied carbon. The Sixth Assessment Report published by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) concludes that the world can emit just 500 gigatonnes more of carbon dioxide, starting in January 2020, if we want a 50 percent chance of staying below 1.5 degrees. In 2021 alone, the world emitted about 36.3 gigatonnes of carbon, the highest amount ever recorded. We’re on track to blow through our carbon budget in the next several years. To quote the IPCC directly: “The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years (high confidence).”
The real estate industry is the single most significant contributor to climate change after the oil and gas industry, responsible for about 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally. Of that, building materials are responsible for about 11% of all greenhouse gas emissions globally—more than all fashion and flights combined. While that’s less than the global emissions associated with operating assets, as the grid decarbonizes and buildings electrify, embodied carbon from building materials will make up an increasingly large portion of the real estate sector’s total emissions. Already, the upfront emissions associated with constructing a building are equivalent to upwards of 10 years of operating that building.
