Carbon labelling scheme for construction products: the benchmark for low carbon materials

Abstract

Climate change has become a global threat with worrying consequences for many countries. Among various economic sectors, the construction industry consumes 40% of materials entering the global economy and generates significant amounts of greenhouse gases (GHGs) - the main cause of climate change. Particular attention should be attributed to the embodied carbon of construction materials as it could contribute to 70% of GHG emissions at the construction stage and up to 25% of a building’s life time energy consumption. It is thus highly desirable to select and use low carbon construction products so as to minimise the GHG emissions arising from the construction industry. In view of this, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) in Hong Kong has initiated a Carbon Labelling Scheme for Construction Products as part of its mission to promote green building practices and sustainable development. This paper introduces the carbon assessment framework of the Scheme, including the product categorisation, principles and system boundary of carbon footprint quantification, benchmarking mechanism, and certification process. The paper also presents the methodology of developing a GHG quantification tools for assessing carbon footprint of products (CFP). As a voluntary scheme in Hong Kong, itaims to provide verifiable and accurate information on the carbon footprint of construction products for industry practitioners to select ‘low carbon’ materials.