Embodied Carbon Calculator

Embodied Carbon Calculator

Embodied carbon accounts for all greenhouse gas emissions released during a material's extraction, manufacturing, and transport - before it's even installed in a building or used in a product, distinct from the "operational carbon" emitted during a building's actual use.

Embodied CO2 = Material Mass x Embodied Carbon Factor

Example

1,000 kg of a material with an embodied carbon factor of 0.9 kg CO2/kg:

Embodied CO2 = 1,000 x 0.9 = 900 kg CO2 (0.9 tonnes)

Why Some Materials Carry So Much Embodied Carbon

Cement and steel production are notably carbon-intensive manufacturing processes - cement manufacturing alone is estimated to be responsible for a substantial share of global industrial CO2 emissions, largely due to both the fuel burned to heat kilns to extreme temperatures and the chemical reaction (calcination) that releases CO2 directly from limestone itself, independent of the fuel used.

The Shift Toward Lower-Carbon Alternatives

This growing awareness of embodied carbon is driving increased architectural and engineering interest in alternatives like mass timber construction, recycled steel, and lower-carbon concrete formulations (using supplementary cementitious materials like fly ash or slag) - choices made at the material specification stage of a construction project can meaningfully shift a building's total lifecycle carbon footprint before a single day of operational energy use even begins.