A recent joint webinar between FIS and Recolight looked at the drive to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment is rapidly shifting beyond operational energy performance and towards the carbon embodied within the products and materials used to create buildings.

EPDs: The foundation of carbon measurement

Historically, the construction industry has focused on operational carbon, emissions from heating, cooling, lighting and powering buildings. However, as buildings become more efficient and the UK’s electricity grid continues to decarbonise, embodied carbon is becoming an increasingly significant part of a building’s total impact.

Flavie Lowres who has a dual role of Sustainability Champion for FIS and Recolight explained:

“As buildings become more energy efficient, the grid decarbonises, and buildings become less dependent on gas, the proportion of operational and embodied carbon will change. Therefore, it is important that we start to look at embodied carbon emissions as well.”

Embodied carbon covers emissions generated throughout a product’s lifecycle, from raw material extraction and manufacturing through transport, installation, maintenance and end-of-life disposal.

Central to this transition is the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).  Flavie described an EPD as:

“An independently verified and registered document, based on a Life Cycle Assessment that provides transparent and comparable information on the environmental impact across a product lifecycle assessment.”

While creating an EPD requires investment, manufacturers do not necessarily need an EPD for every individual product.

As Flavie noted:

“You don’t have to worry about doing one EPD for every single permutation of your products.”   Using product families and scaling methodologies can often provide a practical route to delivering meaningful environmental data without excessive cost.

Carbon budgets are becoming standard practice

One of the most striking messages from the webinar was how quickly embodied carbon is becoming embedded in mainstream design processes.

Rachel Hoolahan, from architectural practice Orms, explained that carbon budgets are now increasingly being set at the earliest design stages and used throughout project development.

“When we start with carbon, we’re thinking about it from the very start of any project.”  She described how carbon is now treated much like project finances:

“We have a base budget set and then a developing budget, where we’re looking to reduce carbon in key areas.”

Later in the discussion, she confirmed how widespread the practice has become within her practice:

“All of our projects, no matter how big or small, have a carbon budget at this point.”

From sustainability claims to evidence

For contractors, the demand for reliable environmental data is growing rapidly.

James Upstill-Goddard  from Willmott Dixon explaines that the sector is moving beyond sustainability marketing claims. “There’s been a shift from claims to evidence.”

He highlighted how EPDs help provide confidence in the environmental performance being reported to clients:

“It enables us to move more from making generic assumptions about how a product or building will perform to using product-specific data.”

The value of EPDs, he explained, extends beyond measurement:

“EPDs help us move from just reporting carbon to carbon reduction – actually being able to do something with it.”

Frameworks are driving market demand

James also highlighted the growing influence of public sector procurement frameworks in accelerating embodied carbon measurement.  He noted that the Department for Education’s latest framework represents a significant step change.

“The DfE expect that 85% by mass of all materials and products in that school will have an EPD available.”

He described this as:

“A huge undertaking … but that’s clearly where the industry is going.”

As more frameworks and clients adopt similar requirements, manufacturers able to provide verified environmental data will be better positioned to compete.

What does this mean for FIS members?

The Q&A helped underpin why this is important for FIS members, particularly those supplying fit-out and interiors products, the importance of embodied carbon is only increasing.

Ian McIlwee highlighted how fit-out’s relatively short replacement cycles make the issue particularly relevant:

“We fit out such a fast cycle. Every five, every seven years, we’re stripping stuff out. We’ve got to be thinking longer term about the decisions that we’re making.”

At the same time, speakers stressed that EPDs should not become a barrier to innovation.

Rachel cautioned against excluding products solely because they lack an EPD:

“The EPD is not the be all and end all.”   Whilst it provides the best framework, she added:

“I certainly don’t want to stifle innovation.” 

James reminded agreed, whilst recognising the benefit of consistency, he reflected, the goal is to understand real impacts and support better decisions in the most consistent way possible.

Looking beyond carbon

The discussion also touched on the next stage of environmental assessment.

Rachel suggested that future attention will increasingly focus on wider ecological impacts beyond carbon alone:

“We’ve been in a carbon-blinkered world for the past couple of years.”

She highlighted growing interest in embodied ecological impact, including factors such as water consumption, pollution and biodiversity.

Circularity was another recurring theme. Encouraging manufacturers to think beyond product sales, Rachel urged businesses to consider reuse and refurbishment models:

“Circularity is a huge growing piece.”

The direction of travel is clear

The overall message from the webinar was that embodied carbon is rapidly becoming a key metric alongside cost, programme and quality.  Public sector frameworks, client requirements and emerging standards are all pushing the industry towards greater transparency.

For manufacturers and suppliers, environmental data is increasingly becoming part of market access. For designers and contractors, it is becoming essential for informed decision-making.

As James concluded:

“The real value in EPDs is when the important decisions are made.”

For FIS members, now is the time to engage with embodied carbon, understand the role of EPDs and prepare for a market where verified environmental performance is no longer optional, but expected.