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2 Minutes With... Gemma Read

How Embodied Carbon Monitoring Can Reshape the Green Energy Sector

While it may not yet be a quiet revolution, something interesting is happening in the green energy sector.

Like most things, tenders evolve to reflect changing legislation, policies, and cultural shifts. Recently, some green energy tenders have started to require the monitoring of embodied carbon, the emissions created from manufacturing, transport, and materials at every stage of a project’s lifecycle.

We first saw this requirement in the Higher Education sector; however, it’s now spreading across both public and private sectors.

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Gemma is currently working with several of our clients to calculate the embodied carbon on large energy infrastructure projects.

Solution detail

Until now, determining the carbon performance of green energy infrastructure has mostly centred on operational carbon reduction, comparing emissions from new systems to previous ones. But this marks an important shift… organisations are increasingly focused on understanding their full Scope 3 emissions, including embodied carbon.

Gemma Read, Sustainability Graduate - Vital Energi

I believe there are two key reasons behind the rise of embodied carbon monitoring.  First is the genuine desire by companies to understand Scope 3 emissions to ensure they truly meet their net zero commitments and don’t fall prey to greenwashing.

The second reason is that carbon assessments and management plans are becoming competitive differentiators. Contractors with this capability are better placed to win business.

Standards like PAS 2080 now give genuine advantages in the tender process and some organisations, such as National Highways, have made it a requirement for tendering for their contracts.  Some funding schemes such as the Green Heat Network Fund also have Market Transformation Commitments which are the extra measures you’ll commit to if you gain funding.  More and more organisations are using Whole Life Carbon Assessment as one of the tools to meet these requirements.

Beyond strengthening bids, the real business value lies in improved decision-making. Designers can optimise systems early on, whilst commercial teams better understand the cost-to-carbon savings of materials. A benefit close to my heart is the ability to track materials throughout the project lifecycle, deepening our understanding of the true value of end-of-life treatment and creating the evidence base needed to establish a truly circular economy.

While embodied carbon monitoring might currently be a small element specified in tenders, its potential to enhance decision-making across design, procurement, construction, and lifecycle management means I expect it to become far more widespread in the near future.