The Practical, Technical and Economic Impacts of Measuring and Reducing Embodied Carbon in New Buildings is a report from by AECOM commissioned by The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
The report reviews the current state of embodied carbon assessments in the UK, before providing recommendations concerning the technical, practical, and economic impacts of measuring and reducing embodied carbon.
While timber is not the report’s specific focus – it is about embodied carbon and the challenges in measuring it – timber is referenced a number of times as a crucial low-carbon construction material. The Executive Summary makes the following overall points:
- Upskilling of the industry is required to enable the adoption of alternative methods of design and construction – such as timber structure.
Recommendation: Re-scope professional competence to include fire protection systems and their limitations. Continued investment, particularly in training, is required to reduce the skills gap across the board. - There is a lack of consistency in reported carbon assessment outputs.
Recommendation: Develop consistent reporting mechanisms that enable streamlined carbon assessment data tracking. - There is a need to improve the quality of carbon assessments undertaken.
Recommendation: Upskill and train carbon modellers to ensure proficiency in carbon assessment methodologies. Create a clear definition of a competent carbon assessor, including developing and specifying training and/or experience requirements. - There are large gaps in the availability of both product specific EPDs and generic data.
Recommendation: A UK-based carbon dataset should be created using the carbon data that is currently accessible. (Note: TDUK provides this for timber products: see 2025 Embodied Carbon Data for Timber Products). Coordinate the generation of product and manufacturer-specific carbon data across current and planned policies. Create interim methodologies to reduce the gaps in data availability. Development of low-cost LCA tools for use by SMEs. - There is a large variation in product carbon results for similar building products.
Recommendation: Consistent guidance should be created about how carbon tools should generate carbon factors. - There is a lack of consistency across carbon tools.
Recommendation: Create a consistent methodology for both public and private carbon tools to follow. Create a third-party verification process of the tools to ensure that they are robust.
Economic considerations
The report found that the typical cost of a carbon assessment varies based on the carbon assessment scope and stage from £3,700 for early stage to £9,600 for a whole life carbon assessment. Widespread carbon assessments could have a broader economic cost benefit to the UK: the direct economic impacts of widespread carbon assessment range from £0.98million for upfront assessments only in a low-demand scenario, up to £105.9 million for whole life carbon assessments in a high-demand scenario.
Diagram showing EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) availability in the UK, sourced from the report; © AECOM
However, there are a number of key challenges to the scalability of decarbonisation solutions which need to be addressed, the report states, including:
- Sourcing constraints due to supply chain availability and supplier preferences
- Warranties and insurance challenges
- Skills shortages, particularly for timber construction
- Fire regulations and compliance
- Limited availability of both cost and carbon information
On the positive side, the report states that there are currently enough suitably qualified carbon assessors to meet some of the projected demand scenarios; and it outlines a number of cost-effective decarbonisation solutions.
In the section titled ‘Economic Considerations for Measuring and Reducing Embodied Carbon in New Buildings’, some interesting structural, design and specification findings are put forward, concluding that the following optimisations are the most productive:
- Optimised column grid in lieu of standard column grid.
- Pad foundations based on ground conditions in lieu of pile foundations.
- Optimised rectangular mezzanine office layout in lieu of standard mezzanine office layout.
- Exposed ceiling in lieu of suspended ceiling.
- Hybrid Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system in lieu of VRF with VRF serving Air Handling Unit (AHU) coils.
- Electric arc furnace steel in lieu of blast furnace steel.
- Reused steel in lieu of new steel.
- Hybrid timber steel structure in lieu of steel structure.
- Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) with fan coil units and mixed mode operation in lieu of VRF with VRF serving AHU coils.
Other suggestions and recommendations
Among the report’s many conclusions are several other sensible and worthwhile suggestions:
- Supporting a consistent methodology and reporting of sequestered carbon
- Incentivising the use of low carbon materials, which could include embodied carbon taxation
- Increasing timber usage in new public buildings through publicly funded timber construction projects and/or adopting a quota of timber usage in new public buildings
- Supporting building circularity
- Working with and supporting the forestry industry to boost the timber supply chain
The Practical, Technical and Economic Impacts of Measuring and Reducing Embodied Carbon in New Buildings can be read in full at the AECOM website
For more information on carbon measurement, visit TDUK’s dedicated Carbon page and the 2025 Embodied Carbon Data for Timber Products
