The role of carbon metrics in supporting built-environment professionals

Thomas Lützkendorf

doi:10.5334/bc.73

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Carbon metrics-related international standards: selected examples.

Number	Title	Comments
ISO 14064-1: 2018	Greenhouse gases—Part 1: Specification with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals	Describes how organisations (e.g. real estate development companies and property investment funds) can report and communicate greenhouse gas emissions
ISO 21929-1: 2011	Sustainability in building construction—Sustainability indicators—Part 1: Framework for the development of indicators and a core set of indicators for buildings	Lists global warming as a main indicator in assessing the contribution of buildings to sustainable development; points to the consequences of climate change in other dimensions of sustainability
ISO 14067: 2018	Greenhouse gases—Carbon footprint of products—Requirements and guidelines for quantification	Applicable to products of all kinds
ISO 21931: 2010 (in revision)	Sustainability in building construction—Framework for methods of assessment of the environmental performance of construction works—Part 1: Buildings	Formulates building-specific requirements for the life-cycle assessment of buildings, including in relation to GWP 100 indicator
ISO 16745-1: 2017	Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works—Carbon metric of an existing building during use stage—Part 1: Calculation, reporting and communication	Specially developed for determining GHG emissions during the use phase of buildings
ISO 16745-2: 2017	Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works—Carbon metric of an existing building during use stage—Part 2: Verification	Specifies the requirements for the verification of a carbon metric calculation for GHG emissions of an existing building during the use stage
ISO 21678: 2020	Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works—Indicators and benchmarks—Principles, requirements and guidelines	Formulates the requirements for the development of performance levels/target values and the description of benchmarks—can be used for GWP 100 and carbon budgets
ISO 21930: 2017	Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works—Core rules for environmental product declarations of construction products and services	Formulates the requirements for the provision of unassessed information on resource use and the effects on the environment in the life-cycle of construction products, including GWP 100
ISO 14040: 2006	Environmental management—Life cycle assessment—Principles and framework	Establishes the basic principles for life-cycle assessment (LCA)
ISO 14044: 2006	Environmental management—Life cycle assessment—Requirements and guidelines	Provides information on the implementation of LCAs
ISO 14026: 2017	Environmental labels and declarations—Principles, requirements and guidelines for communication of footprint information	‘[P]rovides [the] principles, requirements and guidelines for footprint communications for products addressing areas of concern relating to the environment’^a
ISO 14080: 2018	Greenhouse gas management and related activities—Framework and principles for methodologies on climate actions	Supports the management of GHG emissions as well as the preparation and implementation of mitigation measures

[i] Source: ^a https://www.iso.org/standard/67401.html/.

Table 2

Articles in this special issue ‘Carbon Metrics for Buildings and Cities: Assessing and Controlling GHG Emissions across Scales’, Buildings & Cities (2020), 1(1); guest editor Thomas Lützkendorf.

Authors	Title	DOI
T. Lützkendorf	The role of carbon metrics in supporting built environment professionals (Editorial)	10.5334/bc.73
G. Habert, M. Röck, K. Steininger, A. Lupísek, H. Birgisdottir, H. Desing, C. Chandrakumar, F. Pittau, A. Passer, R. Rovers, K. Slavkovic, A. Hollberg, E. Hoxha, T. Jusselme, E. Nault, K. Allacker & T. Lützkendorf	Carbon budgets for buildings: harmonising temporal, spatial and sectoral dimensions	10.5334/bc.47
K. W. Steininger, L. Meyer, S. Nabernegg & G. Kirchengast	Sectoral carbon budgets as an evaluation framework for the built environment	10.5334/bc.32
R. Frischknecht, M. Alig, C. Nathani, P. Hellmüller & P. Stolz	Carbon footprints and reduction requirements: the Swiss real estate sector	10.5334/bc.38
M. Kuittinen & T. Häkkinen	Reduced carbon footprints of buildings: new Finnish standards and assessments	10.5334/bc.30
B. Bordass	Metrics for energy performance in operation: the fallacy of single indicators	10.5334/bc.35
T. Lützkendorf & R. Frischknecht	(Net-) zero emission buildings: a typology of terms and definitions	10.5334/bc.66
M. Balouktsi	Carbon metrics for cities: production and consumption implications for policies	10.5334/bc.33
T. Fawcett & M. Topouzi	Residential retrofit in the climate emergency: the role of metrics	10.5334/bc.37
A. Parkin, M. Herrera & D. A. Coley	Net-zero buildings: when carbon and energy metrics diverge	10.5334/bc.27
E. Hoxha, A. Passer, M. R. M. Saade, D. Trigaux, A. Shuttleworth, F. Pittau, K. Allacker & G. Habert	Biogenic carbon in buildings: a critical overview of LCA methods	10.5334/bc.46
C. E. Anderson, K. Kanafani, R. K. Zimmerman, F. N. Rasmussen & H. Birgisdóttir	Comparison of GHG emissions from circular and conventional building components	10.5334/bc.55
B. Waldman, M. Huang & K. Simonen	Embodied carbon in construction products: a framework for quantifying data quality in EPDs	10.5334/bc.31
M. Schmidt, R. H. Crawford & G. Warren-Myers	Integrating life-cycle GHG emissions into a building’s economic evaluation	10.5334/bc.36

Table 3

Key themes of articles in this special issue ‘Carbon Metrics for Buildings and Cities: Assessing and Controlling GHG Emissions across Scales’.

Author	Object of assessment/scale						Methodological aspect				Application
Author	Product/component	Building	Urban district/neighbourhood	City	Building stock	Construction/real estate sector	Indicator development	Assessment method	Creation of a carbon budget	Reduction requirements	Policy-making	Regulation/standardisation	Tool development	Provision of data	Design: new construction	Design: retrofit	Economic evaluation	Macroeconomics
Lützkendorf (editorial)
Habert et al.		■	■	■	■	■			■		■							■
Steininger et al.						■			■									■
Frischknecht et al.						■				■	■							■
Kuittinen & Häkkinen		■						■			■	■
Bordass		■					■				■	■				■
Lützkendorf & Frischknecht		■						■			■	■
Balouktsi				■				■			■
Fawcett & Topouzi		■						■							■
Parkin et al.		■					■								■
Hoxha et al.		■						■
Anderson et al.	■							■							■	■
Waldman et al.	■							■						■
Schmidt et al.		■						■									■

Linkages between different levels of scale and specific objects of assessment.

The role of carbon metrics in supporting built-environment professionals

Figures & Tables

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

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