{"id":63138,"date":"2024-01-29T09:58:27","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T14:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.apriori.com\/?post_type=glossary&p=63138"},"modified":"2024-04-02T05:04:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T09:04:28","slug":"embodied-carbon","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/www.apriori.com\/glossary\/embodied-carbon\/","title":{"rendered":"Embodied Carbon"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is embodied carbon?<\/h2>\n

Embodied carbon is the total amount of CO2e emitted during the production life cycle of a product. Embodied carbon \u2013 also known as embedded carbon \u2013 is primarily raw material extraction and refinement, manufacturing, and assembly. (Transportation typically only accounts for a low percentage of embodied carbon.)<\/p>\n

The other main greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions category is operational carbon, which represents the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emission emitted during the operational (in-use) phase of a building or product. This includes energy consumption, use, management, and maintenance of a product or structure.<\/p>\n

Companies with the visibility to assess the carbon impact during product design and manufacturing can identify opportunities to reduce carbon often hidden due to this process\u2019s complexity.<\/p>\n

Sustainable manufacturing<\/a> decarbonization strategies must consider the entire product development life cycle (embodied and operational carbon) to reduce a product\u2019s environmental impact.<\/p>\n

Why is embodied carbon becoming a larger percentage of GHG emissions?<\/h2>\n

The transition to a cleaner energy grid is accelerating as part of the effort to reduce climate change. The world\u2019s renewable energy grew by 50% from 2023 to 2023, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)<\/a>. This brought 510 gigawatts (GW) of renewable online in 2023, the 22nd consecutive year of added renewable capacity.<\/p>\n

A greener energy grid, coupled with advances in electrification (e.g., electric vehicles replacing gas-powered cars), is reducing operational carbon. As such, embodied carbon is becoming a higher percentage of overall GHG emissions and is increasingly important to address.\u202fOne-quarter of the global carbon footprint is embodied in traded goods<\/a>, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science and Technical Information.<\/p>\n

And this varies by industry. In the building materials and construction sector, embodied carbon will account for 49% of the total carbon emissions between 2020 and 2050, according to a\u00a0United Nations (UN) report<\/a>. To put this in perspective, nearly half of all CO2e for a building project is already released before its first tenants move in. (Embodied carbon in buildings is nearly 50% of its total CO2 e across its life cycle.)<\/p>\n

Embodied carbon is far more complex to calculate than operational (in-use) carbon. And manufacturers require the ability to measure embodied carbon emissions in their design and production processes to help reduce global warming.<\/p>\n

How can manufacturers reduce their embodied carbon emissions?<\/h2>\n

There are multiple ways that manufacturers can increase sustainability, including:<\/p>\n