Focus area

Embodied Carbon

As the world transitions towards climate neutrality, it is important to decarbonise every part of the economy, including buildings.

Embodied carbon has become a critical topic in the building sector as it accounts for the carbon emissions associated with the production, transportation, and installation of building materials and products. 

In short:

  • Embodied carbon should be considered in measuring the decarbonisation of buildings and construction. 
  • Markets for low-carbon building materials should be facilitated and created through such tools as green public procurement. 

Embodied carbon plays a significant role in the carbon footprint of buildings and construction. It refers to the carbon emissions associated with the entire lifecycle of building materials and products. Cement and steel are some of the most carbon intensive parts of the embodied emissions associated with buildings. These two materials alone are responsible for 7% (cement) and 8% (steel) of emissions globally.  

«Embodied carbon’ refers to the CO₂ emissions of a building or infrastructure during its whole lifecycle, from extraction of raw materials to end-of-life, excluding the emissions associated with energy use.»

Irene Domínguez

Policy Advisor, Embodied Carbon

While previous efforts have focused on reducing operational carbon through increased energy efficiency and renewable energy, accounting for embodied carbon is equally important. In new buildings constructed according to the latest energy performance standards, embodied carbon could represent around 50% of the building’s whole lifecycle emissions. Therefore, efforts to reduce embodied carbon are essential in achieving climate targets and decarbonising the building and construction sectors. 

Publications related to focus area

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Consultation Response: Roadmap for the reduction of whole life carbon emissions of buildings in the EU

Bellona welcomes the Commission’s initiative to develop a roadmap for reducing whole life carbon (WLC) emissions in buildings, as part of the Renovation Wave. With the status of current EU policies, Bellona believes that developing complementary policy is needed. There is still a gap between what the current EU policies can achieve in terms of environmental impact of buildings and construction products, and the decarbonisation goals of the EU.

Consultation Response: Response to the Call for Evidence on the new product priorities for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products (ESPR)

We welcome this Call for Evidence on the product priorities for the ESPR and the ongoing work to ensure that the EU policy framework reflects the true cost of all products. As noted in our consultation response to the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI), it’s important to further initiatives that we strengthen sustainability across a wide range of instruments and make both the environmental and climate impacts of products visible.  

Consultation Response – REPowerEU chapters in the Recovery and Resilience Plans

Together with other decarbonisation strategies, REPowerEU chapters in policies such as the Recovery and Resilience plans should be designed to kickstart additional renewable energy deployment and focus on energy efficiency to create a more resilient and clean energy system. Boosting energy efficiency, and supporting key cross-border infrastructure and renewable generation needs to be prioritised instead of investments in fossil gas and circumventing basic sustainability criteria.

Consultation Response – Sustainable Products Initiative

Bellona Europa welcomes  the Sustainable Product Policy Initiative’s intention to assess the true environmental impact of products and correct existing market failures which do not take into account their externalities. Many externalities related to manufactured goods, such as climate impacts, are significant yet not taken into account. internalising climate impacts would allow steel, cement and chemicals industries to create new markets and pursue more ambitious climate action strategies.

Position Paper: All that the NRMM Regulation isn’t.

Regulations on Non Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) are currently under revision by the European Commission and the European Parliament due to covid-19 crisis. In our Position Paper "All that the NRMM Regulation isn't and what it could be" we highlight how the development of new technologies for construction machinery opens up an opportunity for the EU to take the lead in the innovation of the sector. If only the EU would be willing to take the leadership.

Construction Site Machinery in the Clean Vehicles Directive

The ongoing recast of the EU Clean Vehicles Directive (CVD) offers a unique opportunity to create this market demand by extending public authorities’ procurement obligations to construction site machinery and equipment. While the scope of the existing legislation has to date been limited to light- and heavyduty road vehicles, there is a clear rationale to expand its provisions to non-road mobile machinery in order to further reduce urban dwellers’ exposure to health damaging levels of air and noise pollution. This paper provides guidance on how to include construction machinery within the scope of the Clean Vehicles Directive.

Zero Emission Construction Sites: The possibilities and barriers of electric construction machinery – Deep Dive

Construction is a fundamental component of human civilisation. It lies at the heart of economic and social development. In fact, the construction industry generates roughly 9% of European GDP and accounts for 18 million jobs. In spite of this, construction sites are also a major source of environmental and human health damage throughout all aspects of the construction process. Combined with increasing urbanisation trends and a fast-growing global population, it goes without saying that construction is here to stay. This calls for the adoption of timely policies and measures at the local-, national- and EU levels to encourage the transition to zero emission technologies and processes across the full construction supply chain.

How EU Member States roll-out electric-mobility: Electric charging infrastructure in 2020 and beyond

Sufficient publicly accessible charging infrastructure is a key enabler for the accelerated uptake of electric cars. This briefing by the Platform for Electro-Mobility analyses the current and planned future roll-out of EV charging infrastructure in European Member States, based governments’ plans (National Policy Frameworks) submitted to the European Commission as part of the implementation of the EU Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive.

Reaction Paper on the Clean Vehicles Directive recast

The Platform for Electro-Mobility, of which Bellona is a founding member, welcomes the European Commission (EC) proposal to amend Directive 2009/33/EU on the promotion of clean and energy-efficient road vehicles in public procurement (or so-called Clean Vehicles Directive), and considers it holds potential to set the transport sector on a course to swift decarbonisation and improved air quality in urban centers. This paper calls on the European Parliament and Member States to build upon the Commission's proposal and deliver a bolder text with higher procurement targets and broader scope, while ensuring that this does not lead to a reduction of the level and quality of public transport services.

Financing Resilient Electric Recharging Infrastructure

In this paper the Platform for Electro-Mobility suggests how the European Commission and Member States can play a key role in stirring investments towards the deployment of future-proof recharging infrastructure. The recommendations are divided into three main categories, namely 1) private domain: buildings; 2) public charging points in urban areas; and 3) electrification along and beyond the TEN-T network. Having lead the Platform’s infrastructure-related work, Bellona has brought together the platform's members in producing this well-timed paper: which comes in the lead up to the European Commission's Mobility Package (9 November 2017), set to contain a European Action Plan for Alternative Fuels Infrastructure.

Rethinking the cost of conventionally fueled road transport

Poor air quality, largely resulting from conventionally fueled road transport, is Europe’s largest environmental health hazard, claiming thousands of lives each year. In its newly launched policy brief, Bellona explores the heavy yet unaccounted for human health costs from the fossil car industry and estimates that if these were to be paid by car makers themselves, we would see a doubling in ICE cars price tags. Our conclusions are simple: electro-mobility is the only viable cost-effective approach to drastically reducing damaging air pollution while safeguarding human health.

Accelerating Electric Recharging Infrastructure Deployment in Europe

The Platform for Electro-mobility, of which Bellona is a founding member, has today, 28 November 2016, launched a new paper on ‘Accelerating Electric Recharging Infrastructure Deployment in Europe’. Bellona has brought together all 24 members of the Platform, from across industries and transport modes, in producing this well-timed paper: which comes just as EU Member States are delivering national plans for their implementation of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (AFI) Directive and just two days prior to the release of the Commission’s Energy Union Winter Package.

BellonaBrief: Brexit Implications on Climate, Energy and Environment

On 24 June 2016 the United Kingdom voted 52% to 48% in a referendum to leave the European Union. Many resources are now likely to be diverted from running the EU and progressing important policies toward instead managing and negotiating the referendum implications. While many uncertainties and questions remain to be addressed, one thing remains certain: Bellona has championed environmental and climate protection in Europe from outside EU membership for over 20 years and will continue to do so. While domestic implications for the UK remain unclear, NGOs’ voices in Europe will continue to be heard.

BellonaBrief: Attaining an interoperable EV recharging infrastructure in Europe

2016 will be a decisive year in terms of EU Member States’ preparatory process for the implementation of the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (AFI) directive. In fact, by November 2016, Member States will have to have submitted their so-called National Policy Frameworks (NPFs), outlining how they aim to go about the directive’s transposition. The months leading up to November will therefore be crucial for creating a common understanding, among Member States as well as EU policy makers, of how best to implement the directive and how to overcome technical and non-technical barriers to interoperability. This brief, therefore, provides a number of recommendations for the interpretation of the AFI directive so as to ensure its uniform implementation across EU countries. By drawing on best practices and lessons learnt from the Norwegian EV success story, this brief also shares Bellona’s recommendations for overcoming interoperability issues central to electro-mobility, namely: standard- and fast-charging infrastructure, and the potential synergies with electric infrastructure already in place for public transport; smart charging; electricity roaming; payment solutions; and parking schemes.

BellonaBrief: Why an electrified transport sector needs to form a core component of the Energy Union

Transport constitutes a large and untapped sector for significant amount of cost effective mitigation potential. Meeting the EU’s target of reducing CO2 emissions from transport by 60% and of eliminating the use of fossil fuels in cars by 2050 will, however, necessitate significant and immediate efforts. Bellona sees electric vehicles (EVs), in particular, as representing one of the most promising technologies for cutting CO2 emissions, reducing petroleum reliance and improving local air quality. EVs will, furthermore, help to optimise the ever increasing use of renewables and increase the predictability of the electricity sector, as EV batteries can be re-used to store and manage wind and solar-based electricity. In this brief Bellona provides a number of policy recommendations to European leadership and national governments in attaining electrified European transport.

BellonaBrief: The Emission Testing Gap – Why business as usual for the conventional car industry cannot continue

The recent revelations concerning Volkswagen (VW) having equipped around 11 million of its vehicles with defeat devices to allow its fleet to produce artificially low NOx emission results when the test is conducted triggered a broader investigation into the entire car maker industry. This in turn confirmed Bellona’s long-held assumptions about fraudulent practices and test manipulations being commonplace across the entire car industry. Not only are further car makers being added to the list of cheaters, but the practice has been found to also affect CO2 emissions: the greenhouse gas around which the UN climate negotiations will be revolving at the Paris COP 21 conference next month.

Bellona Response to Consultation on the Effort Sharing Decision

Given that the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) currently regulates more than half of the Union’s total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is therefore of crucial importance to ensure that significant incentives and financial support are provided for climate mitigation initiatives in the ESD sectors. Bellona sees the transport sector in particular as a large and untapped sector for significant amount of cost effective mitigation potential. Even though a variety of clean vehicle technologies and fuels are in development and use, Bellona sees EVs as representing one of the most promising technologies for cutting CO2 emissions, reducing petroleum reliance and improving local air quality. As a consequence the focus of this response is on the electrification of the EU transport sector and its contribution to broader climate action.

BellonaBrief – Electromobility in the EU: State of Play and Way Forward

Currently, passenger cars alone are responsible for over 15% of total CO2 emissions in the EU. The global car fleet is predicted to double from 800 million to 1.6 billion vehicles by 2030. In view of goals to decarbonise transport, meet climate change objectives and reduce air pollution, this calls for technological advancements to ensure sustainable mobility in the long term. There are a variety of clean vehicle technologies and fuels in development and use, but electric vehicles (EVs) represent one of the most promising technologies for cutting CO2 emissions, reducing oil imports and improving local air quality. Additionally, EVs will help to increase the predictability of the electricity sector, as EV batteries can be reused to store and manage wind and solar-based electricity. This brief lists Bellona’s recommendations for driving electromobility forward in the EU.

News related to focus area

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Parliament moves to bind cement emissions

Cement, a major player in the construction industry, bears the burden of contributing to a staggering 7% of global emissions. The urgency to decarbonise this carbon-intensive sector and high-demand product is becoming more critical by the day. However, progress has been painfully slow, leaving the industry lagging behind Europe's climate goals. In its July plenary, the European Parliament took a tentative step in the right direction when it passed two policies, the CPR and ESPR, harbouring the potential to set cement and the construction industry on a more sustainable track. 

The people involved

Irene Domínguez

Policy Advisor, Embodied Carbon

irene@bellona.org +32 (0) 488 764 936

Marika Andersen

Senior Manager

marika@bellona.org +47 920 683 09

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