• About
    • Back
    • What We Do
    • Membership
    • Donate
    • Newsletter
    • Plans and Reports
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Careers
    • Heritage BC AGM 2025
  • Programs
    • Back
    • Heritage BC Awards
    • Conference
    • Heritage Week
    • Online Course: Community Heritage Fundamentals
    • Webinars
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Heritage 101
    • Advocacy
    • Accessibility for Historic Places
    • Climate & Sustainability
    • Cultural Maps
    • Heritage Place Conservation
    • Heritage Policy & Legislation
    • Homeowners
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Reconciliation
    • Webinars On-Demand
  • Grants
    • Back
    • Heritage Legacy Fund
    • Climate Disaster Response Fund
    • Government Funded Grants
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Membership
  • Donate
  • Newsletter
Heritage BC
Membership Donate Newsletter
  • About

    About

    • What We Do
    • Membership
    • Donate
    • Newsletter
    • Plans and Reports
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Careers
    • Heritage BC AGM 2025
  • Programs

    Programs

    • Heritage BC Awards
    • Conference
    • Heritage Week
    • Online Course: Community Heritage Fundamentals
    • Webinars
  • Resources

    Resources

    • Heritage 101
    • Advocacy
    • Accessibility for Historic Places
    • Climate & Sustainability
    • Cultural Maps
    • Heritage Place Conservation
    • Heritage Policy & Legislation
    • Homeowners
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Reconciliation
    • Webinars On-Demand
  • Grants

    Grants

    • Heritage Legacy Fund
    • Climate Disaster Response Fund
    • Government Funded Grants
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Heritage 101
    • Heritage Quick Studies
    • Definitions and Heritage FAQs
    • Organizations to Know
  • Advocacy
    • A Guide to Making a Case for Heritage
    • Election Resources
    • Reports : Heritage Conservation in BC
    • State of Heritage: Provincial Roundtables
    • Heritage Week
  • Accessibility for Historic Places
  • Climate & Sustainability
    • Building Resilience and Sustainability
    • Climate Adaptation : Making A Case Resource Guide
    • Climate Adaptation: Framework and Implementation
    • Seismic Risk & British Columbia’s Historic Streetscapes
  • Cultural Maps
    • Mapping Heritage Resources
    • Classroom Resources
  • Heritage Place Conservation
    • Heritage Conservation Tools: Resource Guides
      • Community Heritage Commissions
      • Community Heritage Register
      • Heritage Conservation Areas
      • Heritage Designation
      • Heritage Revitalization Agreements
    • Conservation in BC : Reports and Factsheets
    • Heritage Real Estate
      • Insuring Heritage Properties
    • Publications on Heritage Place Conservation Practices
  • Heritage Policy & Legislation
    • Heritage Legislation in BC
    • Local Government: Library of Source Documents
    • Heritage Conservation Tools: Resource Guides
    • Webinars for Heritage Commissions, Committees and Local Governments
  • Homeowners
    • Building Code, Heritage Standards & Laws
    • Heritage Designation
    • Heritage Professionals
    • Energy Improvements & Sustainability
    • Funding Opportunities
    • Insurance
    • Materials, Construction & Design
    • Heritage Building Maintenance
    • Safety & Hazardous Materials
  • Intangible Cultural Heritage
    • Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Resource Guide
    • ICH: Creating a Community-Based Inventory
  • Reconciliation
    • Indigenous Cultural Heritage
    • Setting the Bar: A Reconciliation Guide for Heritage
      • 1. Heritage and Reconciliation Pledge
      • 2. Acknowledging Land and People
      • 3. Celebrating Days of Recognition and Commemoration
      • 4. With a Commitment to Learn
      • 5. Committing to Strategic Organizational Diversity
      • 6. Mission-Making Room for Reconciliation
      • 7. Possession, Interpretation, Repatriation and Cultural Care
      • 8. Shared Decision Making
      • 9. Statements of Significance and other heritage planning documents
      • 10. Heritage Conservation Tools, Local Government Act
    • Racism: Do Not Let the Forgetting Prevail
    • Taking Action: resources for diversity and inclusion
  • Webinars On-Demand
  • Resources
  • Climate & Sustainability
  • Climate Adaptation : Making A Case Resource Guide

Climate Adaptation: Embodied Carbon

Making a case to leverage existing and historic buildings for zero net carbon

4. Embodied Carbon

Embodied carbon is the associated carbon dioxide emissions as a result of production, transportation, and installation of building materials and components on-site. They account for a large percentage of a building’s total life cycle emissions, especially in high embodied carbon materials such as concrete, cement mortar, steel, aluminum, PVC products, and petroleum-based products. Europe recognizes the importance of reducing embodied carbon in cross-sector supply chains, the reuse of existing infrastructure and buildings are part of this wave of sustainable construction practices.11

If a building is demolished, there is a waste of embodied energy from its entire lifecycle.

For example, carbon emissions released before the building or infrastructure begins to be used, or upfront carbon, will be responsible for half of the entire carbon footprint of new construction between now and 2050. This threatens to consume a large part of our remaining carbon budget. A net zero embodied carbon building (new or renovated), is highly resource-efficient with upfront carbon minimized to the greatest extent possible, and all remaining embodied carbon reduced or offset in order to achieve net zero across the lifecycle.12

Principles to follow in reducing embodied carbon:12
1. Prevent
2. Reduce and optimize
3. Plan for the future
4. Offset

Load-bearing elements such as concrete, steel and asphalt, are carbon-intensive materials, and often contribute the majority of emissions. Focusing on building elements as a principal source of embodied carbon presents an opportunity to ensure that structures achieve the maximum possible useful life, which therefore supports a case for retrofitting against demolition.

For instance, cement manufacture is responsible for around 7% of global carbon emissions, with steel also contributing 7-9% to the global total, around half of which can be attributed to buildings and construction. Each building renewal project is unique, but almost all of them retain the biggest source of embodied carbon: the structure.12

Embodied Carbon v operational carbon graphic
Embodied Carbon vs. Operational Carbon. Understanding Carbon; Stacy Smedley, SKANSKA/CLF.
breakdown of global emissions by sector
Breakdown of global carbon emissions by sector. Global Alliance for Building and Construction and Architecture 2030.

 

emissions breakdown throughout building's lifecylce
Emissions breakdown throughout a building’s lifecycle. London Energy Transformation Initiative. LETI Embodied Carbon Primer: Supplementary Guidance to the Climate Emergency Design Guide. World Green Building Council, 2020. (p. 9)

 

operational and embodied carbon trajectories graph
Operational and embodied carbon trajectories. London Energy Transformation Initiative. LETI Embodied Carbon Primer: Supplementary Guidance to the Climate Emergency Design Guide. World Green Building Council, 2020. (p.18)

 


 

[11] Carrig Conservation International. Energy Efficiency in Traditional Buildings: Draft guidance for public consultation. Government of Ireland, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, 2021.

[12] Advancing Net Zero, WGBC, RAMBOLL and C40 Cities. Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront: Coordinated action for the building and construction sector to tackle embodied carbon. P. 11-24.

Navigate to the next pages

Register for the 2025 Heritage Conference
Read our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan
Become a Heritage BC Member!

Support Us

Membership Donate
Heritage BC

604-417-7243

PO Box 846
Ladysmith, BC
V9G 1A6

Connect with Us

© 2025 Heritage BC.
Website by SplitMango

As an organization of provincial scope, Heritage BC recognizes that its members, and the local history and heritage they seek to preserve, occupy the lands and territories of B.C.’s Indigenous peoples. Heritage BC asks its members and everyone working in the heritage sector to reflect on the places where they reside and work, and to respect the diversity of cultures and experiences that form the richness of our provincial heritage.