Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap for the … Built... · Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap for the Built Environment 2015 Routemap Progress | Technical Report

Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap for the Built Environment

2015 Routemap Progress | Technical Report

15 December 2015

Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap for the Built Environment2015 Routemap Progress | Technical Report

REP/01 | Final issue | 15 December 2016

Contents

Page

Executive Summary

1 Introduction 2

2 Built environment outturn carbon emissions 3

2.1 Outturn against the 1990 carbon emissions baseline 3

2.2 Outturn against the built environment routemap 80% reduction trajectory 4

2.3 Outturn against the Construction Strategy 2025 ambition 5

3 Outturn carbon emission breakdowns 6

3.1 Operational carbon 6

3.2 Capital carbon 8

3.3 Sector perspectives 11

3.4 A perspective on use carbon 13

3.5 Grid decarbonisation 14

4 Emerging Themes 16

Appendices

Appendix A

The Built Environment

Appendix B

Data Updates



Page 1

Executive Summary

This report provides an update on the carbon emissions of the UK’s built

environment as defined in the Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap

for the Built Environment. The study is based on more recently available data and

uses the original routemap carbon calculation model.

Results provide an insight to emissions outturn against the original routemap

projections, and also to progress to future ambitions as set out in Construction

2025 (50% reduction on 1990 levels) and the statutory targets for the UK (80%

reduction on 1990 levels).

Findings show that there was an 11% reduction in emissions in 2012 versus the

1990 baseline. This is less than the reduction the sector had achieved in the year

2009, which was determined as 17%. Overall the findings indicate towards an

increase in built environment emitted carbon and a widening of the gap to the

50% sector reduction ambition by 2025. Headline sub-sector perspectives for

2009 to 2012 include:

• Domestic: 5% increase in emissions from 91 to 96 MtCO2e

• Retail: 4% increase in emissions from 13.1 to 13.6 MtCO2e

• Commercial office: 3% increase in emissions from 5.4 to 5.5 MtCO2e

• Infrastructure: 2% decrease in emissions from 7.6 to 7.5 MtCO2e

The 2012 increase in emissions relative to 2009 is primarily due to increased gas

consumption for heat in the three years. Overall across this time period built

environment carbon

emissions from domestic

operations show a decreasing

trend while emissions

from the non-domestic sector

are still increasing. Capital

carbon (embodied carbon)

has shown a trend for gradual

increase across most

construction sectors as

economic growth has taken

hold since 2009; with the

indication that this may

have accelerated in recent

years.

These findings come together in the adjacent graphic which shows the scale of the

challenge ahead to achieve the 2025 ambition of a 50% carbon emissions

reduction. The built environment needs to find a further 39% reduction in carbon

emissions against the 1990 baseline.

Built environment outturn carbon emissions together with the

projection for an 80% reduction in emissions developed in the

original routemap model.

0

50

100

150

200

250

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)

Built Environment Historic Emissions

2013 Routemap Model



Page 2

1 Introduction

This report provides an update on the carbon emissions of the UK’s built

environment as defined in the Green Construction Board (GCB) Low Carbon

Routemap for the Built Environment (2013)1. This work was carried out by Arup

and the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products (CIEMAP) based at

the University of Leeds.

The report provides a summary of the built environment outturn carbon emissions

presented against the ambition for emissions reduction in 2025 (down 50% on

1990 levels) and 2050 (down 80% on 1990 levels). Findings are also shown

against the original modelled trajectories in the 2013 routemap and chapters

provide information on sectoral emissions breakdowns and discuss emerging

themes.

Appendices are included which explain the scope of the study and which provide

a summary of the modelling and calculations applied in the update.

1http://www.greenconstructionboard.org/otherdocs/Routemap%20final%20report%2005032013.pdf



Page 3

2 Built environment outturn carbon emissions

This section provides a summary of performance of built environment carbon

emissions against the 1990 baseline and the GCB’s ambitions for 2025 and 2050.

Comparison is also made against the 2013 modelled trajectories.

While the original routemap included accurate historic data across all modelled

sectors to 2009; this report covers findings up to 2012, as well as later years in

some sectors where data was available to inform the model and report.

2.1 Outturn against the 1990 carbon emissions

baseline

Table 1 presents a breakdown of built environment outturn carbon emissions in

2009 and 2012 versus the 1990 baseline year. The following key points are

evident:

• The 2009 figures indicate a 17% reduction in built environment carbon

emissions versus the 1990 baseline.

• The 2012 built environment carbon emissions are higher than in 2009,

representing a reduction of only 11% versus the 1990 baseline.

A graphical presentation of these findings is shown in Figure 1. Figure 2 provides

a separate look with a focus on capital carbon emissions.

Table 1. Built environment carbon emissions data for the 1990 baseline, the original

report numbers (2009), and the latest update numbers (2012) are shown. Capital carbon

breakdowns back to 1990 are not currently available. Numbers quoted in this report may

not sum up to 100% due to rounding.

Emissions Category 1990

Baseline

Emissions,

MtCO2e

2009 Emissions,

MtCO2e

and % reduction vs.

1990

2012 Emissions,

MtCO2e

and % reduction vs.

1990

Operational Carbon: Domestic

(buildings) 105 91 14% 96 9%

Operational Carbon: Non-

domestic (buildings) 61 45 26% 54 11%

Operational Carbon:

Infrastructure 9 8 11% 8 12%

Total Operational Carbon 175 144 18% 157 10%

Capital Carbon: Domestic - 7 - 8 -

Capital Carbon: Non-domestic - 30 - 28 -

Capital Carbon: Infrastructure - 7 - 9 -

Total Capital Carbon 51 44 14% 45 13%

TOTAL 226 188 17% 202 11%



Page 4

Figure 1. Built environment carbon emissions by source: outturn from 1990 to 2012.

Figure 2. Capital carbon emissions: outturn performance from 1990 to 2012; note the

upwards trend into 2012 as the economy picks up and demand for construction materials

grows.

2.2 Outturn against the built environment routemap

80% reduction trajectory

Further context in relation to outturn against the ambitions of the 2013 built

environment routemap is provided in Figure 3. This shows that the main

divergence from the planned 80% reduction scenario occurs in 2011 and 2012,

and points toward the shortfall that needs to be made up to return to the desired

trajectory.

Unfortunately, as discussed in Section 3.1, it would appear that this gap is set to

further widen in 2013 at least, based on available operational carbon data and

indicative reference information on capital carbon.

0

50

100

150

200

250

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)

CapCarb

OpCarb: Infrastructure

OpCarb: Non-domestic

OpCarb: Domestic

0

25

50

75

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)



Page 5

Figure 3. Built environment outturn carbon emissions against projections from the

original routemap model.

2.3 Outturn against the Construction Strategy 2025

ambition

With a 2012 reduction of 11% versus the 1990 baseline (see Table 1), Figure 4

demonstrates the scale of the challenge to achieve the 2025 ambition of a 50%

carbon emissions reduction equating to the need to find a further 39% reduction

against the 1990 baseline.

Figure 4. Comparison of the actual built environment carbon emissions outturn against

the 2025 50% reduction ambition.

0

50

100

150

200

250

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)

Built Environment Historic

Emissions

2013 Routemap Model

0

50

100

150

200

250

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)

Built Environment Historic Emissions

2025 Ambition



Page 6

3 Outturn carbon emission breakdowns

This section presents further detail on the performance of individual built

environment sectors.

3.1 Operational carbon

The breakdown of emissions outturn for operational carbon is shown in Figure 5

up to 2013 (note this includes one extra year of data that is available for

operational carbon).

Figure 5. Outturn breakdown of operational carbon emissions from 1990 to 2013 (latest

year of available data across sectors).

Overall, operational carbon, which dominates the built environment emissions

inventory, shows a slow downward trend. Emissions in 2013 stood at 9% below

the 1990 baseline. The greatest annual reduction versus the baseline was,

however, in 2011, at 19%.

Operational carbon emissions are themselves dominated by the domestic sector,

which appears to be on a downward trend in recent years. Non-domestic

operational carbon, though currently less significant, appears to be on an upward

trend growing by on average 0.2 MtCO2e per year.

The “peakiness” in the operational carbon profile is driven by year-on-year

weather variations, in particular the average levels of winter temperatures; this is

further discussed in the original routemap report1. Operational carbon in domestic

and non-domestic sectors is dominated by energy for heating (i.e. predominately

consumption of gas). Mild winters lead to troughs in operational carbon profiles,

while harsh winters lead to peaks (as observed in the profiles between 2008 and

2012 in particular). Notably, while domestic operational carbon emissions

decreased year-on-year in 2013, those for the non-domestic sector actually

increased, pointing to differing levels of thermal performance improvements and

demand reduction in these sectors.

0

50

100

150

200

1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)

OpCarb: Infrastructure

OpCarb: Non-

domestic

OpCarb: Domestic



Page 7

The above observations are consistent with the findings in the most recent

Committee on Climate Change reports2 for the UK (noting the different system

boundaries).

Figure 6. Breakdown of 2012 operational carbon emissions by sector (left bar) and source

(right bar).

Figure 6 provides greater insight into the primary emissions sources of operational

carbon, using 2012 data. Heating across domestic and non-domestic sectors is

responsible for 99 MtCO2e of emissions, almost two thirds of the operational

total. If hot water and cooling and ventilation are included as well, emissions

associated with the provision of thermal comfort total 124 MtCO2e, nearly four

fifths of the 2012 total.

Comparing operational carbon emissions outturn against those originally

projected in 2013 (see Figure 7), shows a divergence from ‘plan’; and operational

carbon emission in 2013 are 14% above where they would ideally have been for

that year. Had the 2013 winter been harsher, it is likely that this divergence would

have been greater still.

2 https://d2kjx2p8nxa8ft.cloudfront.net/wp-

content/uploads/2015/06/6.738_CCC_ExecSummary_2015_FINAL_WEB_250615.pdf

Infrastructure

Lighting

Cooling & Ventilation

Hot Water

Heating

Lighting

Hot Water

Heating

Domestic

Buildings

Non-domestic

buildings

Infrastructure

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

MtC

O2e



Page 8

Figure 7. Comparison of actual operational carbon outturn against original operational

carbon projections from 2013 built environment routemap.

3.2 Capital carbon

This section presents further detail on recent trends in capital carbon emissions.

Figure 8 presents revised capital carbon data for 2001 to 2012, broken down by

the main sub-sectors. As originally described in the 2013 report, the overall sector

trajectory shows a strong rise in line with economic activity up to 2007, but

following the financial crisis a sharp decrease. That is to say, this decrease is

driven by demand, and a slowdown of construction and retrofit activity. The data

provides no evidence of a trend driven by efficiencies or process improvements in

design, manufacturing and the supply chain.

Of relevance also is the trend for gradual increase in capital carbon across most

construction sectors as economic growth has taken hold since 2009. As a whole,

this leaves capital carbon emissions (as measured in 2012), at only 13% below

1990 levels.

Capital carbon emission outturn data is not available for beyond 2012. However,

ONS economic output data in the construction industry is available. This suggests

that new work in the construction industry has increased by nearly 20% over the

period 2012 to June 2015 (with recent output consistently higher than 2012). In

terms of carbon emissions, it is unlikely that there has been sufficient

decarbonisation of the supply chain in this period to offset this increase in output.

Therefore, the implication is that the capital carbon emission level of 13% below

1990 levels, is set to decrease further.

The data presented in Figure 8 points to the infrastructure sector as the largest

individual contributor to capital carbon, closely followed by the domestic

buildings sector.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)

OpCarb Historic Performance

2013 Routemap OpCarb Projection



Page 9

Figure 8. Capital carbon actual breakdown, with detailed split for 2012 (the latest year of

data available). The ‘other non-domestic’ sector includes communication, government,

hotel and catering, sports and leisure, warehouses and other.

The capital carbon breakdown can also be compared with that for operational

carbon, as shown in Figure 9. It can be seen in this figure that the profile of

operational versus capital is considerably different, with domestic buildings

contributing a far greater proportion of operational emissions than capital

emissions. Conversely, infrastructure operational emissions are far less significant

than the sector’s capital carbon emissions.

Figure 9. Detailed sector splits for operational carbon (pie chart on the left) and capital

carbon (pie chart on the right) for 2012.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011

Em

issi

on

s (M

tCO

2e

)

Infrastructure

Other non-domestic

Retail

Offices

Health

Education

Domestic

17%

6%

3%

9%

6%38%

21%

Domestic

Education

Health

Offices

Retail

Other non-domestic

Infrastructure

2012

CapCarb

45 MtCO2e

61%

4%

2%

4%

9%

15%

5%

2012

OpCarb

157 MtCO2e



Page 10

3.2.1 Geographical origin of capital carbon emissions

University of Leeds CIEMAP modelling allows for a perspective on the emissions

contributions of materials production in different regions. Trends in the regional

carbon emissions breakdown for capital carbon in the built environment are

shown in Figure 10. While emissions arising from China and the EU have

remained relatively constant (and equal) since 2003, there is notable growth in

emissions arising from within the UK, mainly at the expense of emissions

imported from the rest of the world (RoW) region.

It is important to recognise that these trends are attributable to both the amount of

materials sourced from each region (relevant for the UK component in particular),

and the carbon intensity of manufacture and materials extraction in those regions.

Early indications3 point to increases in the proportion of carbon emissions from

China by 2014/15 due to increased imports from (relatively carbon-intensive)

Chinese manufacturers.

Figure 10. CIEMAP modelling of capital carbon contribution from the four main regions,

by year. RoW = Rest of the World.

3 Based on CIEMAP analysis.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

19

97

19

98

19

99

20

00

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

20

07

20

08

20

09

20

10

20

11

UK

EU

RoW

China



Page 11

3.2.2 Activities contributing to capital carbon

Figure 11 provides an insight into the different activities contributing to the

capital carbon emissions of the built environment. Design, logistics, construction

activity and materials extraction/production are the main item contributors in

increasing order of importance.

Figure 11. Contribution of different activities to capital carbon emissions, 2010.

3.3 Sector perspectives

The following subsections provide overviews of the emissions breakdowns by

source for four of the most significant sectors, which show significant variation in

magnitude and profile. In general, these profiles do not represent a significant

shift since 2009 and therefore the more detailed conclusions about how to reduce

carbon emissions in these sectors that were documented in the original routemap

report still stand. Please note the axes of the graphs in this section use different

scales.

3.3.1 Domestic

Domestic sector emissions, as already discussed, are dominated by emissions

from heating. Capital carbon, arising from housing construction and

refurbishment activities, represents less than 10% of total emissions attributable to

the domestic sector. This is the result of a very large existing residential stock and

low levels of house building. Emissions reductions potential in this sector is

driven by thermal efficiency improvements in the existing stock, through fabric

retrofit and deployment of low-carbon heating technologies. However, with

domestic capital carbon typically standing at 30-45%4 of whole life carbon

emissions for today’s new-build properties, addressing capital carbon in the new-

build sector remains highly relevant as house building is set to expand in the

future.

4 Based on CIEMAP analysis

55%

23%

8%

3%

11%

Materials extraction, manufacturing

and production

On-site construction activities

Distribution of people and products

Design services

Other

2010

43 MtCO2e



Page 12

Figure 12. Domestic emissions by source, 2012.

3.3.2 Retail

Retail sector emissions, as shown in Figure 13, are approximately one sixth of

total domestic emissions, but are notably dominated by emissions from meeting

lighting demand. Ongoing, rapid advances in low-energy lighting technology (in

terms of efficiency improvements, cost reductions, and quality of light delivered),

point to a significant opportunity for this sector to nearly halve its emissions

burden.

Figure 13. Retail emissions by source, 2012.

3.3.3 Commercial offices

Figure 14 shows that ongoing construction and refurbishment in the commercial

office sector is the single greatest contributor to emissions, standing at two fifths.

In terms of operational emissions, both heating and lighting are significant

emissions sources.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

MtC

O2e

Lighting

Hot Water

Heating

CapCarb

0

5

10

15

20

MtC

O2e

Lighting

Heating

Hot Water

Cooling and Ventilation

CapCarb



Page 13

Figure 14. Commercial offices emissions by source, 2012.

3.3.4 Infrastructure

Emissions from the infrastructure sector, as shown in Figure 15, arise from capital

carbon, outdoor lighting, C&D waste treatment and disposal, and water and

wastewater services (i.e. electricity demand and process emissions). Figure 18

provides further clarity of the sector accounting boundaries. Annual construction

and maintenance activity and the capital carbon emissions they drive account for

over half of total infrastructure emissions, while water and wastewater services

are the greatest operational sources of emissions.

Figure 15. Infrastructure emissions by source, 2012.

3.4 A perspective on use carbon

This section presents a perspective on “use carbon”, the carbon emissions

associated with the use of the UK built environment (see Figure 20). This

emissions class is notionally outside the scope of the Green Construction Board

built environment low carbon routemap, but is something the industry should be

aware of and indeed is being addressed in part by PAS 2080 Carbon management

in infrastructure.

Figure 16 shows a comparison of operational carbon, capital carbon, and use

carbon emissions for the UK built environment in 2012, based on the emissions

associated with the following categories:5

5 Derived from high-level analysis of DECC’s Energy Consumption in the UK 2015 statistics

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

MtC

O2e

Lighting

Heating

Hot Water

Cooling and Ventilation

CapCarb

0

5

10

15

20

MtC

O2e Outdoor Lighting

Construction Waste

Water

CapCarb



Page 14

• Domestic: cooking, small appliances and plug loads

• Non-domestic: cooking, small appliances and plug loads

• Transport: road and rail travel (passenger and freight)

Figure 16. Breakdown of built environment emissions according to operational carbon,

capital carbon and use carbon in 2012. The pie chart on the left presents infrastructure,

domestic buildings and non-domestic buildings separately whilst the pie chart on the right

combines data across all into the three emission classes.

By including use carbon emissions in the built environment emissions inventory it

expands from 202 MtCO2e to 374 MtCO2e; a near-doubling (based on 2012 data).

While not insignificant in domestic and non-domestic buildings sectors, it is clear

that use carbon has the greatest impact in the infrastructure sector, where

vehicular emissions from road and rail alone are larger than the entire operational

carbon contribution of infrastructure, and are equal to nearly three times its total

capital carbon.

3.5 Grid decarbonisation

In conjunction with building-level energy efficiency improvements, the

decarbonisation of the electrical grid is a key factor in enabling the low carbon

futures foreseen in the 2013 built environment routemap. This is because it is

particularly important to the delivery of low carbon heat.

Figure 17 presents a comparison of the modelled UK electrical grid carbon

intensity in 2013 (as per DECC’s then central scenarios) and the updated analysis

for 2015. Whereas the 2013 trajectory foresaw a steep reduction in intensity

beginning in 2013, this had still not been achieved by 2015, resulting in higher

outturn emissions from electrical demands. Despite annual differences, the

trajectories are nevertheless still broadly similar, with 2015 estimates projecting

steep intensity declines over the next decade. The delivery of these reductions

continues to be key in the decarbonisation of the overall built environment.

Domestic OpCarb

25%

Domestic

UseCarb

10%

Non-domestic

OpCarb

14%

Non-domestic

UseCarb

5%

Inrastructure

OpCarb

2%

Infrastructure

UseCarb

32%

CapCarb

12%CapCarb

12%

OpCarb

42%

UseCarb

46%

2012

374 MtCO2e

2012

374 MtCO2e



Page 15

Figure 17. Comparison of 2030 grid carbon intensity trajectories from 2013 and 2015 and

which have been used in the original and update work of the built environment low

carbon routemap respectively.

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

Gri

d I

nte

nsi

ty (

kg

CO

2e

/kW

h)

2013 Trajectory

2015 Trajectory



Page 16

4 Emerging Themes

Overall, it appears that the UK built environment is moving away from the

preferred trajectory for carbon emissions reduction. There has been a growing

divergence occurring over just a few years (2009 through 2013). Given the

steepness of the trajectory required to meet the ambition for built environment

carbon reductions (and statutory targets for the UK as a whole), a significant

transformation from the ongoing ‘status quo’ trajectory is needed.

Infrastructure continues to be an important sector, particularly from the capital

carbon perspective. Capital carbon emissions are projected to increase (as

concluded in the 2013 routemap report) to deliver essential services and also to

enable operational carbon savings to be delivered in the next 35 years. This trade-

off will be necessary, and points towards the need for carbon intensity targets (e.g.

tCO2/£, or tCO2/delivered unit of service) for capital carbon versus absolute

emissions targets, and to recognise the role of the supply chain. But this activity

must be directed to the delivery of low carbon infrastructure and buildings and not

merely growth in the built environment. There remains a need to decouple capital

carbon emissions from construction activity and this means addressing the

challenge of capital carbon (embodied carbon).

While historical evaluation of emissions (as is presented in this report) is valuable

for performance tracking (and will remain so); an increasing focus should be

placed on using regular forward emission estimates for driving future carbon

reductions. In a constantly changing world an ex-ante approach to assessment like

this would provide the GCB the ability to track and monitor progress on a regular

basis (perhaps annually) and therefore be more effective at informing policy,

industry strategy, and in taking action for emissions reduction in the built

environment.

A further theme to identify but which as yet has not been addressed by the built

environment routemap is carbon budget. This represents a challenge for the sector

and is the issue directly linked to warming scenarios. It is widely understood that

we need to stabilise carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere to hold the

increase in global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius in order to avoid

dangerous warming. This means emission budgets will have to be established and

delivered. The Committee on Climate Change has set out four carbon budgets for

the UK, but an important bit of work remains to map these more precisely to the

built environment (and the routemap trajectory), and therefore ensure it delivers

on these national budgetary objectives.

Delivery of low-carbon heat remains crucial in overall emissions reductions from

the built environment, assisted and enabled by continued decarbonisation of the

electricity grid. As per the Committee on Climate Change study2 this is the

primary driver of temperature-adjusted emissions reductions in the UK.

Appendix A

The Built Environment



Page A1

A1 Scope of the Built Environment Routemap

Understanding the results discussed in this report requires an understanding of the

scope and definition of the “Built Environment” as originally presented in 20131.

presents the detailed scope of GHG emissions sources covered by Arup’s model.

In summary, the built environment GHG emissions scope can be structured into

two categories:

• Capital Carbon | All emissions arising from the extraction of materials,

manufacture of construction products, and construction activities

associated with the construction of UK buildings and infrastructure (see

Figure 18).

• Operational Carbon | All emissions associated with the operation of

domestic and non-domestic buildings, and infrastructure (see Figure 19)6.

o Buildings | On-site consumption of fuels (e.g. gas, oil) and

electricity to deliver “regulated” energy demands7, including

heating, cooling, and lighting.

o Infrastructure | Consumption of fuels and electricity to provide

primary infrastructure services, such as lighting on highways,

treatment and distribution of water and wastewater, etc.

Both Capital and Operational Carbon emissions are given on a consumption basis

as opposed to a by source basis, as is usually the case for national reporting; and

emissions are assigned to the end user of the energy or products being supplied,

instead of the sectors or industries originally emitting them. This means, for

example, that the emissions from generation of electricity for residential lighting

are assigned to the domestic sector instead of the power generation sector.

6 This definition does not include carbon emissions associated with the use of infrastructure. For

completeness Figure 20 provides an illustration of use carbon emissions. 7 Regulated energy is that from demands covered by Buildings Regulations, and in the UK

includes Lighting, Heating, Cooling, and Ventilation. Unregulated energy includes energy for

appliances, plug loads (e.g. phone chargers) and catering.



Page A2

Figure 18 Capital carbon emissions are those associated with the creation, maintenance

and on site demolition of built environment assets including both infrastructure and

buildings. Final treatment of C&D waste at end of life is reported as a separate figure.

Figure 19. Operational carbon emissions are those classed as regulated in buildings; in

infrastructure it is those that arise from the management and operation of infrastructure

assets.



Page A3

Figure 20. Use carbon emissions are those which occur from plug loads and cooking in

buildings together with vehicles in the transport sector and emissions from waste disposal

infrastructure etc.



Page A4

Figure 21. Scope of the Green Construction Board Built Environment carbon routemap.

High level Mid-level Capital Carbon In Operational Carbon In Use Carbon In

Domestic

buildings

Housing Construction of new housing � Heating � NA -

Refurbishment of housing Housing refurbishment & maintenance � Cooling � NA -

Emissions from waste processing/treatment and final disposal from

construction, maintenance, and demolition activities of housing �

Hot water � NA -

Ventilation � NA -

Lighting � NA -

Other regulated energy (e.g. lifts, etc.) � NA -

Cooking -

Gas and electric

cooking (cookers

only)

-

Unregulated energy - Plug load electricity

(i.e. all appliances) -

Non-domestic

buildings

Public Buildings 5

Industrial 5

Commercial 5

Construction of new public buildings � Heating � NA -

Construction of new industrial buildings � Cooling � NA -

Construction of new commercial buildings � Hot water � NA -

Refurbishment of non-domestic

buildings

Refurbishment & maintenance of non-domestic buildings � Ventilation � NA -

Emissions from waste processing/treatment and final disposal from

construction, maintenance, and demolition activities of non-domestic

buildings

�

Lighting � NA -

Other regulated energy (e.g. lifts, etc.) �

NA -

Cooking -

Gas and electric

cooking (cookers

only)

-

Unregulated energy - Plug load electricity

(i.e. all appliances) -

Infrastructure

Infrastructure - Energy Construction of power stations, and energy distribution networks 1 � Grid losses and efficiency loses - 2 NA - 2

Infrastructure - Telecommunications Construction of communication networks, cabling, masts etc. 1 � Energy use to power telecommunications

networks, data centres, transmitters, etc. � NA -

Infrastructure - Water Construction of reservoirs, pumping stations, treatments works and

distribution networks 1 �

Conveyance and supply of potable water

Conveyance and treatment of waste water

Direct emissions from potable and waste

water treatment

� 3 NA -

Infrastructure - Transport Construction of road, rail, airports, and port facilities 1 � Street and public realm lighting

(gantries, signage, signalling) 6, etc. �

Direct and indirect

vehicular emissions -



Page A5

High level Mid-level Capital Carbon In Operational Carbon In Use Carbon In

Infrastructure - Waste Construction of waste processing, treatment, recycling and final disposal

facilities 1 �

Energy used to power waste handling,

processing and treatment equipment.

Transport of waste from point arising to

point of final disposal.

� 4

Direct emissions of

final disposal

technologies

-

Refurbishment Infrastructure

Infrastructure refurbishment & maintenance � NA - NA -

Waste from any construction, maintenance or demolition activities of

infrastructure assets � NA - NA -

Clarifying statements 1

The construction and operation of buildings required to operate infrastructure, including offices and stations, for example, are included in the non-domestic buildings sector.

2

‘Operational' and 'use' emissions from energy supply (including any losses) are assigned to the activities using the electricity such as lighting, plug loads or cooling, for example, in

buildings; or highway lighting in infrastructure.

3

Data is not available to disaggregate water and wastewater into built environment and non-built environment uses. Therefore all emissions from water and waste water use (including water

supply and treatment of industrial and process water) are covered in the ‘Infrastructure water - operational carbon’ category. 4

Data was not available that enabled disaggregation of operational carbon arising from waste infrastructure assets. 5

For presentation purposes in this table public, industrial, and commercial categories are used as summary headings to represent the wider building stock. More specific non-domestic

building category descriptions are used throughout the report. 6 Data was unavailable on energy consumption from traffic signalling and signage. Instead, this is likely to be captured within the non-domestic buildings energy consumption figures,

although it should be noted it is estimated to be a very small component.



Page A6

Operational Carbon versus Use Carbon

The distinction between Operational and Use Carbon can often be misunderstood.

A simple example is the case of highways infrastructure, where the energy

required to light roads, highlight signage, and provide traffic officer services is

regarded as Operational Carbon; this is different, and also much smaller in scale,

than the carbon emissions from the vehicles that use the road network (considered

Use Carbon).8

The other key differentiator between the definitions applied in the built

environment routemap and the boundaries used in other emissions inventories is

the GCB’s focus on the emissions sources over which stakeholders in the

construction industry have control and influence. This leads to the following

notable differences:

• A portion of capital carbon emissions arise outside of the UK in the

production and transportation of construction materials; these non-

territorial carbon emissions are not a standard component of the UK

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (GHGI), and are therefore not part

of the UK’s statutory target for 2050.

• Operational carbon energy emissions from buildings only include those

energy demands that are “locked in” through the choice of design and

construction standards, and do not cover the (not insignificant) energy

demands associated with occupants’ behavioural characteristics, such as

the use of computing equipment, small power, appliances and catering.

• As for buildings, operational carbon emissions in the infrastructure sector

may appear smaller than they would normally be considered in the GHGI,

as per the highway example above.

8 As emphasised in the Highways England Carbon Routemap

http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/publications/highways-agency-carbon-routemap-opportunities-for-

a-national-low-carbon-transportation-system/

Appendix B

Data Updates



Page B1

B1 Methodology, data sources and references

The original 2013 routemap carbon model and supporting calculation

methodology was used in this study and new statistical data covering the years

2009 to 2013, where available, was incorporated. The same classifications and

breakdowns were used, with previously modelled figures replaced by the actual

data. The following datasets were used:

• DECC Energy Consumption in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-consumption-in-the-

uk

• Digest of UK Energy Statistics:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/digest-of-uk-energy-statistics-

dukes

• UK Environmental Accounts:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/environmental/uk-environmental-

accounts/index.html

• University of Leeds CIEMAP9 Carbon Data, based on:

o ONS supply and use tables

o ONS analytical tables

o Trade data from Eora

o ONS GHG emissions data

9 http://ciemap.leeds.ac.uk/

Dr Kristian Steele

[email protected]

t +44 20 7755 6549

Thomas Hurst

[email protected]

t +44 20 7755 4161

Arup

13 Fitzroy Street

London, W1T 4BQ

United Kingdom

Jannik Giesekam

[email protected]

t +44 113 34 35576

University of Leeds

School of Earth and Environment

Leeds, LS2 9JT

United Kingdom

Documents

Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap for the … Built... · Green Construction Board Low Carbon Routemap for the Built Environment 2015 Routemap Progress | Technical Report