When assessing a building or infrastructure project’s carbon footprint, there are two sides of the coin: embodied carbon and operational carbon. Both contribute to climate impacts, and both demand attention. Here’s an in-depth look at each, why they’re equally important, and how new guidelines and tools are shaping industry practice.

Design choices made in the project planning phase have profound effect, not just on the time and cost of the build, but also on the embodied carbon of the project. These choices also last the lifetime of the building as choices made here can affect the thermal performance of the building, which in turn affects the heating and cooling costs and carbon output of the building for its lifecycle.