The launch of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (NZCBS) was a pivotal moment for the construction sector in its drive towards environmental responsibility. The new Standard is important because it provides a clear and unified framework for achieving Net-Zero carbon emissions in buildings, something that has been lacking until now.
Previous work by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), RIBA and CIBSE, has been crucial in defining key factors such as Net Zero, Embodied Carbon and Operational Carbon, while the RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment tool has been invaluable in accurately calculating and reporting carbon emissions across the entire lifecycle of a building.
The new NZCBS will help close the circle by clearly defining the requirements for a building to be certified as Net Zero in both operational and embodied carbon. In addition, the NZCBS will also introduce Net Zero Certification, ushering in a new era of Net Zero uniformity.
The new Standard throws down a challenge to the construction industry, and in particularly manufacturers in the supply chain, to provide reliable information around the carbon footprint of their products and materials. Precision in measuring, understanding the carbon impact of materials and generating accurate reports will become a crucial piece of the sustainable construction puzzle.
Requests from building designers about the carbon cost of products and materials are becoming increasingly common, whether for their own reporting or from their clients who have Net Zero or low carbon targets. There’s also a high chance that carbon calculations will play a key role in the incoming Future Homes Standard, so architects and developers will demand data to ensure compliance.
The good news is that a significant number of building product manufacturers are already actively working towards greater carbon transparency, including the introduction of tools such as Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which provide clear and reliable information about a product's embodied carbon and its environmental impact throughout its lifecycle.
To understand EPDs in simpler terms, I like to think of them as a product’s ‘nutritional label’, but instead of showing calories or vitamin content, EPDs show the environmental impact of a product.
However, while they go a long way in helping to improve sustainable decision-making, EPDs aren’t yet mandatory, meaning not all manufacturers supply them. And in fact, in their current static form, EPDs lack the nuance and granular detail to show the carbon costs of projects on a deeper level. This is because the information is often generalised and representative of a product range, rather than specific to an individual product, such as a window or door.
So, what can manufacturers do to capture the more granular data of individual products and materials needed to ensure the success of the NZCBS? As the suppliers directly responsible for designing and producing materials and systems, from raw material extraction through to production, transportation and disposal, manufacturers have a unique insight into the carbon emissions generated throughout a product's lifecycle.
Part of the answer can be found in the introduction of Advanced EPDs or Dynamic EPDs, a new digital tool offering unparalleled carbon data accuracy.
Unlike traditional EPDs, which provide a static, single set of data for a product’s lifecycle impacts, Dynamic EPDs are adaptable and allow users to customise parameters, such as energy sources and material types, to calculate the carbon used in its production and transportation.
Dynamic EPDs also provide a more tailored assessment of a product’s environmental impact under varied conditions, enhancing accuracy and defining the specific impact for different projects. This technology is also bigger than simply measuring individual products as it is capable of analysing carbon data for an entire development.
Access to this type of digital modelling will be invaluable to architects, designer and specifiers, particularly in light of the NZCBS, empowering the sector to make more sustainable design choices by detailing the carbon cost of each product or material before they make it into building design plans.
Currently NorDan is the only manufacturer in the industry offering custom-designed data modelling via Dynamic EPDs at the scale and speed required by developers. While this technology is still new to the industry, the introduction of the NZCBS will likely drive a greater demand for carbon specifics, placing more responsibility on manufacturers to embrace tools like Dynamic EPDs.
Although full implementation of the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard won’t happen overnight, it will likely eventually become the norm. Instead of seeing it as a hindrance and more red tape, manufacturers should see it as an opportunity to accelerate carbon transparency and improve the services they offer by being able to provide access to data that helps them, and their clients, make more sustainable choices for their projects.
Better carbon measurement through tools like Dynamic EPDs will not only be good for business, it will also have real-world benefits that can help protect the future of our planet.