Embodied carbon estimating : moving from static to dynamic datasets

Climate change is a severe environmental threat faced by the world. Scientists have evidenced the impact of global warming and its effects on climate change as caused by the release of Green House Gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. The report, issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), declared that GHG emissions should be reduced by 45% by 2030 compared to 2010 to achieve a 100% reduction by 2050¹. Regarding GHG emissions, the construction industry is one of the worst offenders due to its continued heavy fossil fuel consumption. Therefore, a higher percentage of carbon-related emissions is recorded to be from the construction industry. Compared to other industries, the construction industry plays a critical role in response to climate change by accounting for around 39% of energyrelated emissions globally. The Building sector, a significant component of the construction industry, has become the world's largest contributor to GHG emissions. Therefore, minimising the carbon emissions of buildings is one of the important concerns in the present context. The need to fulfil this commitment of reducing carbon emissions in the built environment is changing the industry's behaviour towards the awareness of carbon accounting. The Quantity Surveyor has the specific role of quantifying construction works and as the accountant in construction is thus well placed in counting carbon emissions. Embodied Carbon (EC) and Operational Carbon (OC) are the two types of carbon emissions generated during the construction life cycle. OC is the emissions (CO2 and CO2 equivalent gases) generated from the operational activities of the building, such as lighting, heating, cooling, etc.