Unlocking sustainability: exploring RICS’ whole life carbon assessment (WLCA) standard
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Developed to provide continuity and reliability, while encouraging long-term thinking through reuse, recycling and redevelopment, the 2nd edition of RICS’ whole life carbon assessement (WLCA) in the built environment marks a revolutionary change in carbon measurements practices.
Supported by the Department for Transport UK and Zero Waste Scotland, the standard was updated by RICS and an author group of decarbonisation experts following feedback from over 1,300 comments collected through a public consultation.
Importance of WLCA for the global built environment
Using the WLCA standard, assessors can estimate the amount of carbon emitted throughout the life cycle of a constructed asset, from the early stages of development though to the end of life. It gives visibility to embodied carbon, operational carbon, and user carbon – something that is vital to carbon calculations and a unique feature of the RICS standard.
By giving visibility to the carbon cost of different design choices, the standard aims to help manage carbon budgets, reduce lifetime emissions and deliver a net-zero future for the built environment.
Who is it for and why use it?
Whole life carbon assessment 2nd edition will enable professionals to make prudent decisions to limit the whole life carbon impact of buildings and infrastructure.
This standard can be used by a range of professionals, from quantity surveyors, cost consultants and building surveyors to designers, engineers and environmental, social and governance consultants, enabling them to meet client demand by measuring and managing carbon emissions in a reliable and consistent manner.
Contractors and developers can use WLCA for a consistent reporting approach that will help them to deliver against both government and client demands for the measurement of embodied carbon, net-zero buildings and infrastructure.
WLCA can also give financial decision-makers such as investors, lenders and others a long-term view of cost and carbon throughout the asset’s life cycle, promoting sustainable and low-carbon building and infrastructure investments.
Alignment with existing carbon standards
WLCA 2nd edition is the world’s only comprehensive standard providing a whole life carbon methodology for projects and assets, allowing professionals to use it alongside their national and regional frameworks, and in conjunction with the International Cost Management Standards (ICMS) 3rd edition, ISO and EN standards. It is aligned with established environmental performance standards (such as EN 15978, EN 17472, EN 15643, and EN 15804) and is designed so that assessors are guided to conduct emissions estimates practically and systematically.
In the UK, RICS is part of a cross-industry group collaborating to develop the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard (NZCBS), which will set out metrics by which net-zero carbon performance is evaluated for buildings. The measurement of carbon emissions to meet the standard will be in accordance with the RICS WLCA standard, and the repository where the data is submitted and stored for benchmarking will be the Built Environment Carbon Database (BECD).
Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) has also referred to WLCA 2nd edition in their latest publication on “Embodied carbon of retrofits”. This and other testimonials and adoptions from entities like the ICMS and Transport for NSW show that the standard is aligned with decarbonisation pathways, national targets, and globally accepted reporting taxonomies.
How was it created?
First published in 2017, the WLCA standard mandated a whole life approach to reducing carbon emissions within the built environment. The new edition, authored by world-leading decarbonisation experts and supported by a global expert working group, has been revised extensively to reflect advances in professional practice and updates to legislation and regulatory requirements. It also includes a significantly expanded scope to include all built asset types including infrastructure.
Careful consideration of circa 1,300 comments collected through a public consultation provides assurance that the standard works for the whole industry. You can read more about the development process in the Basis of Conclusion.
Author group includes:
Simon Sturgis, architect, team leader for the original 2017 RICS WLCA standard, and team leader of this 2nd edition. Joint author of Greater London Authority WLCA Policy SI2, author of RIBA WLCA guidance, Special Advisor to Environmental Audit Select Committee, ECOS representative for prEN15978, member Part Z team.
Jane Anderson is a leading expert on embodied carbon and environmental product declarations (EPDs) in the construction sector. She is involved in sustainable construction standardisation efforts and is a UK expert to the following international standards committees: CEN TC350 WG3 (product level sustainability standards, e.g. EN 15804, EN 15941), CEN TC350 WG1 (building level sustainability standards, e.g. EN 15978) and ISO TC59 SC17 WG3 (product level EPD standards, e.g. ISO 21930 and EN ISO 22051 (EPD for BIM). She has recently completed a PhD in which she considered the role of EPDs in embodied carbon reduction.
Paul is the Decarbonisation Lead for Ramboll Buildings globally. As a chartered structural engineer Paul has worked on a large variety of building structures and is an advocate for improved consistency in whole life carbon assessments to allow better decision making. Paul is also one of the authors of the recently published guidance on the Circular Economy and Reuse by the Institution of Structural Engineers and emphasises the importance of considering the end of life of the materials that we use in the built environment.
Louisa Bowles is a Partner and Head of Sustainability at Hawkins\Brown. She has led several multidisciplinary projects and now leads the sustainability team and the in-house whole life carbon tool, H\B:ERT. She is a Mayor’s Design Advocate and actively contributes to a number of industry groups, including LETI, UK NZCBS and the UKGBC. She led the alignment of the WLCA standard with ICMS3 and NRM, including the structuring of the building element categories, reporting and general guidance.
Lee Leston-Jones is a Partner of Structural Engineering at Cundall and has a particular interest and expertise in upfront embodied carbon. He was team leader for updates to modules A1– A5; prior to this, he was responsible for the development of the Construction Industry Council’s Carbon Assessment Tool for the Hong Kong market. He is a member of IStructE’s Structural Future Committee.
Qian has helped developed most of the world's leading whole life carbon frameworks and is advising RIBA, RICS, LETI, CIBSE, ISTRUCTE and the GLA on the development of their whole life carbon standards. He is also leading a working group updating and aligning the embodied carbon targets of LETI, RIBA and the GLA. He has over ten years’ experience working in sustainable design. He previously worked at a specialist consultancy where he led the Carbon Assessment team, working with property owners and developers (Landsec, Argent, Google etc.).
Athina is an experienced sustainability manager for the built environment with background in civil engineering. She is currently leading on Sustainability & Carbon for SCS JV, delivering HS2 London Tunnels. Her has significant expertise in decarbonising concrete, steel & construction activities, circular economy, LCA and innovation and is project managing a feasibility study on calcined clay concrete implementation.
Louise is the Global Lead for Sustainable Innovation, leading the development of Introba’s (formally called Elementa Consulting) global lifecycle practice and research, supporting global teams in low carbon assessment and advises architects and clients on design strategies to minimise their environmental impact. She also leads R&D initiatives in whole life carbon studies for building services and their contribution to the performance of the building as a whole. With a degree in both architecture and engineering, she has extensive experience of regenerative design and is the co-author of 'CIBSE TM65 – Embodied carbon of building services: A calculation methodology’.
Clara is the Associate & Carbon Lead at Introba, leading their carbon research and development and is a member of the technical steering group of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard on behalf of LETI which she founded in 2017. At Introba, Clara advises developers and local authorities on how to understand and minimise carbon and authors Industry guidance on the subject. She is also a Mayors design advocate for good growth for the GLA and Technical advisor to the Homes England cross cutting committee.
