Today’s construction decisions cement tomorrow’s environmental footprint. With embodied carbon poised to dominate Australia’s building emissions in the next few years, it’s vital to address this from the very first brick.
Measure and compare your upfront embodied carbon with NABERS
The Embodied Carbon rating tool enables eligible new buildings and partial rebuilds to measure, verify, and compare their upfront embodied carbon with similar buildings.
The tool will provide a certified measure of carbon intensity, incorporating material, transport and construction emissions.
Where enough benchmarking data is available the rating will include a star rating result. The list of buildings eligible for a star rating be provided after benchmarking is complete in early 2025.
Why focus on upfront embodied carbon?
The NABERS Embodied Carbon rating tool focuses on upfront embodied carbon, emissions resulting from materials and construction work before the building is occupied. This is a critical period, that can account for up to 80% of a building’s lifetime embodied emissions.
The impacts of upfront embodied carbon are significant, measurable, verifiable, and are occurring at a large scale today.
Whole-of-life embodied carbon, on the other hand, also includes maintenance, replacements, and end-of-life impacts. While important, the calculation of whole-of-life carbon involves estimations and predictions of future scenarios, making it more complex and less immediately actionable.
Understanding its importance, NABERS will provide a whole-of-life embodied carbon calculation as part of the rating calculator. However, only upfront emissions will be included in the certified rating result.
Additionally, operational emissions and sustainability can be measured with NABERS Energy, NABERS Water, NABERS Waste, and NABERS Energy Performance Indicator.
Who is eligible for a NABERS Embodied Carbon rating?
A building can be rated after practical completion, up to two years after the build is complete. Buildings eligible for a NABERS Embodied Carbon rating include, but are not limited to:
- Residential, including apartment buildings, hotels and student accommodation
- Offices
- Industrial, including warehouses, storage and manufacturing
Shopping centres - Schools and universities.
A full list of eligible sectors is in the NABERS Embodied Carbon Rules.
Key features of the NABERS Embodied Carbon rating tool
The NABERS Embodied Carbon rating tool is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of a building’s carbon footprint. Here are its key features:
- Comprehensive coverage: the tool includes all major sources of emissions, such as the superstructure (above ground), substructure (below ground), envelope, and building services.
- Promotion of material reuse: the tool excludes emissions from demolitions of previous structures and assigns zero emissions to elements reused in their original state.
- Focused scope: the tool excludes emissions from fit outs such as fixtures and fittings, and internal doors due to limited data and their relatively small proportion of upfront emissions. NABERS will look into expanding the tool to measure embodied carbon.
- Promotion of product-specific emission data: EPDs and other certifications should be used instead of the default emission factors from the national emission factors database to improve the accuracy of material emissions.
If you’d like to learn more about the tool, read the NABERS Embodied Carbon Rules.
Built through partnerships and engagement
The development of this tool has been shaped through our extensive collaboration and consultation with industry since 2021, as well as our partnership with the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA). It aligns with Infrastructure NSW, Infrastructure Australia, and Climate Active and is aligned with international standards for measuring embodied carbon in buildings.
The tool has received approval from the NABERS National Steering Committee and endorsement from all states and territories, a testament to its significance and potential impact.
In a significant endorsement of our efforts, the Embodied Carbon tool is expected to be:
- Accepted for the Upfront Carbon credit under the GreenStar Buildings tool.
- Integrated into the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Buildings Standard.
Why measuring embodied carbon matters for your building
Buildings are responsible for 38% of global energy-related emissions. As operational emissions decline due to grid decarbonisation, embodied carbon is on track to be the largest source of emissions in the building sector.
Embodied carbon encompasses the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the entire lifecycle of a building. This includes the materials and processes used from construction through to refurbishment or rebuild and eventual deconstruction.
In 2019, embodied carbon made up 16% of Australia’s built environment emissions - this is estimated to increase to 85% in 2050.
The decisions made during the design and planning phases of buildings are locked in for years to come. By quantifying the emissions from materials and construction processes early, we can empower ourselves to make informed decisions and minimise the carbon footprint of our buildings.