Why standardize carbon neutrality in delivery of complex projects?

The construction industry accounts for approximately a quarter of the global carbon emissions and is the largest consumer of materials and energy (Giesekam et al., 2016; Karlsson et al., 2020). These compelling statistics have engendered an urgency to transform the industry towards serious emission cuts to achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century. Carbon neutrality suggests achieving zero emissions by reducing emissions where practical and compensating for the remaining emissions by investing in carbon offset projects (IPCC, 2018). This systematic review and meta-analysis sought to assess the extent of carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of complex building projects. This will guide in identifying areas where drastic changes are needed and facilitate decision making on practical decarbonisation opportunities to achieve carbon neutrality. The results of this analysis indicate a need to calibrate the performance of buildings in terms of both operational and embodied carbon emissions to reduce the whole lifecycle emissions. However, the absence of appropriate legislation on embodied emissions, unavailability of accurate and consistent databases, varying scope boundaries, as well as lack of interest in the impacts of embodied carbon emissions by relevant stakeholders make achieving this goal a challenge. There is currently no generally accepted methodology and standards for assessing embodied emissions accurately and reliably (Ibn-Mohammed et al., 2013). It is therefore paramount to streamline the carbon accounting standards and policies along with procurement strategies to address the whole lifecycle emissions of buildings. This will provide a solid reference for developing decarbonisation roadmaps for infrastructure developments; addressing the sustainability agenda.