Norman Foster has joined a growing number of architects calling for green building certifications that take embodied emissions from materials into account in order to meet net-zero carbon goals.
Speaking in a talk with US climate envoy John Kerry during the COP26 climate conference, Foster pointed out that sustainability standards such as LEED and BREEAM focus on user wellbeing and operational omissions but neglect embodied carbon.
"Many of the standards that can rate a building environmentally, like LEED and BREEAM, are to be encouraged," he said.
"What we're realising now is that none of these ratings assess the embedded carbon in the materials that make the building."
Foster (top and above) made the comments during the COP26 climate conference To create sustainable cities, Foster argued we need to pursue "higher standards" for buildings that take into account their whole-life emissions.
"The building itself is part of a wider sequence, which involves transport, movement, operating and eventually decommissioning," he added. "So in that sense, we have to take a much broader, wider look.
Whole-life emissions underregulated
Embodied carbon emissions account for half of an average building's carbon footprint.
But currently, no standardised certifications or regulations existto measure and reduce these emissions.
The UK government's net-zero strategy, which was released last month ahead of COP26, similarly prioritises decarbonising ...