The Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) has sponsored and published freely available new guidance to support building project teams to assess and track embodied carbon in-line with the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard.
Developed by expert authors from Arup and WSP, the practical ‘how-to’ guide helps building projects align with the Standard – either to achieve full verification, or simply to follow the best procedures for assessment and reporting.
It focuses on the embodied carbon aspects of the Standard, condensing its information into an easy-to-read format, providing diagrams, useful explanations, tips and tricks, and highlighting important considerations.
Orlando Gibbons, senior consultant at Arup, said: “This guide is a timely and practical step forward in translating the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard into action. By setting out easy-to-follow steps for determining embodied carbon limits and outlining processes for embedding embodied carbon assessment and management throughout the project, this guide empowers project teams to strive towards delivering ‘Net Zero Carbon Aligned’ buildings.”
Emma Francois, associate director at WSP, added: “Implementing the Standard on a project needs early engagement with the process and a robust approach to carbon management to ensure the targets are met. This guide intends to provide clarity and context on what the standard is asking for, with worked examples, showing how lifecycle embodied carbon assessments are used to help meet upfront embodied carbon limits and lead to lower carbon solutions.”
Patrick Hayes, technical director at IStructE, commented: “Like the creation of the Standard, our guide has been a collaborative process, to help readers understand the Standard’s purpose – to enable the industry to robustly verify whether UK buildings are ‘Net Zero Carbon Aligned’, in line with the UK’s climate targets.”
Katie Clemence-Jackson , CEO of the Standard, concluded: “It is wonderful to see IStructE and its members further supporting the mission of the Standard through the release of this guidance. It will help those seeking to meet or report against Standard’s embodied carbon requirements, and comes at an ideal time as we approach the launch of Version 1 and verification in early 2026.
The Standard’s aims are to:
- Bring clear, consistent definitions and trajectories for ‘Net Zero Carbon Aligned’ buildings in the UK
- Avoid greenwashing, by setting clear performance requirements for verification as a ‘Net Zero Carbon Aligned’ building
- Align building-level actions with national and global carbon budgets
- Support the industry in tracking and reducing both embodied and operational emissions over time
- Close the performance gap by measuring as-built and in-use performance of buildings.
The publication UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard: guidance on embodied carbon covers the Pilot rev2 version of the Standard, and should be treated as a Pilot Guide. IStructE intends to release an updated version in Q1 2026, based on Version 1 of the Standard when it is released.
IStructE welcomes feedback on this Pilot Guide which can be sent to ClimateEmergency@istructe.org so it can be considered by the authors ahead of updating and launching Version 1.
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