Regulations and policies driving embodied and whole-life carbon

European Union
Jurisdiction | Regulation/policy | Status | Timeline |
European Union |
Sustainable finance taxonomy criteria for large buildings |
Mandatory | Made legally binding since June 2021 |
Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) | Proposal accepted |
Reporting system for goods at high risk (iron and steel, cement, aluminium)from 2023* Fully operational in 2026 |
|
Construction Product Regulation (CPR) | Under revision | Expected 2025-2030 | |
Energy Performace of Buildings Directive (EPBD) | Under revision | Expected 2027-2030** |
*Under the Commission’s proposal, importers will have to report emissions embedded in their goods without paying a financial adjustment in a transitional phase starting in 2023 and finishing at the end of 2025, giving time for the final system to be put in place.
**The revised Energy Performance for Buildings Directive (EPBD) will include mandatory GWP disclosure for new buildings over 2000 m2 by 2027 and for all buildings by 2030.
Norden
Jurisdiction | Category | Regulation/policy | Status | Timeline |
Sverige | National | National carbon reporting for new buildings over 100m2, limits by 2027 | Mandatory | In force since January 2022 |
Norge | National | The regulation does not set limit values but does require that apartment buildings and commercial buildings to prepare a greenhouse gas calculation based on the Norwegian NS 3720:2018 methodology | Mandatory | In force from 1 July 2022, with a transition period of one year |
Finland | National | Regulatory, mandatory limits for life-cycle carbon impacts for most building types, including embodied carbon | Mandatory | Expected 2024 |
Danmark | National | Regulation requiring carbon calculation requirements for all new buildings and carbon limit values for buildings over 1000 m2 expected by 2023, expanding to all buildings by 2029 | Mandatory | From 2023 onwards |
Western Europe
Jurisdiction | Category | Regulation/policy | Status | Timeline |
Belgium | National (for product) | Regulation requiring materials life-cycle environmental impact must be disclosed if specific environmental claims are made in marketing | Mandatory | In force since 2014 |
Frankrike |
National | Regulatory, mandatory limits for life-cycle carbon impacts for most building types, including embodied carbon. Supporting regulation for product environmental data is already in place | Mandatory | In force since 2022 |
Nederländerna Milieuprestatie van gebouwen (or MPG) |
National | Milieu Prestatie Berekening (MPG) is mandatory for all office buildings over 100 m2 and all residential buildings. | Mandatory | In force since 2013 |
Tyskland |
National | National LCA requirement for federal government buildings | Mandatory* |
*mandatory only for buildings commissioned by the federal state of Germany
The UK
Jurisdiction | Category | Regulation/policy | Status | Timeline |
London, UK | Local | The London Plan requires Whole Life Carbon Assessments and Circular Economy Statements for any development of more than 150 residential units or buildings over 30 m in height and commercial buildings over 2500 m2 | Mandatory | In force since March 2021 |
Nordamerika
Jurisdiction | Category | Description | Status | Timeline |
Kanada | ||||
Vancouver, Canada Vancouver Building bylaws VBBL |
Local | All rezoning projects shall report the GWP or embodied carbon in kgCO2e/m2 as calculated by a whole-building life-cycle assessment. * | Mandatory | Since 2017 |
Toronto, Canada |
Local | Whole building LCA demonstrating 20% embodied carbon reduction from baseline required for all city-owned developments | Mandatory | In force since May 2022 |
The US | ||||
Colorado, U. S |
Local | The Buy Clean Colorado legislation sets out requirements for policies to be created that set emissions limits for key construction materials used in federal construction and infra projects | Mandatory | Passed into law in 2021 |
Maryland, US Buy Clean Maryland Act |
Local | To establish a maximum acceptable global warming potential for certain categories of eligible materials used in certain eligible projects | Introduced in 2022, under review | |
California, U.S Buy Clean California Act (BCCA) |
Local | Regulation requiring carbon disclosure for some materials on state-funded projects. Beginning July 1, 2022, the awarding authorities will determine GWP limit compliance of eligible materials using Environmental Products Declarations (EPDs) | Mandatory | In force since July 2022 |
*The new emission target requires greenhouse gases in B.C. to be 16% below 2007 levels by 2025.