In recent years, the real estate sector’s efforts to tackle climate change and reduce emissions have focused on lowering the footprint of operational carbon. But now, investors’ and investment managers’ attention is shifting towards embodied carbon.

Embodied carbon (the carbon footprint of a building before it becomes operational) can account for up to 50 percent of a new building’s lifecycle emissions and 10 percent of global emissions. Many investment managers are looking for guidance on how to incorporate embodied carbon into their net-zero strategies, cutting the overall carbon footprint of their assets.

Tackling complexity

INREV’s recent 2024 publication, Real estate’s carbon footprint: addressing embodied emissions, explores the challenges facing the measurement and reduction of embodied carbon. It also highlights the need for greater collaboration to ensure embodied carbon is addressed across net-zero strategies.