New database to help with carbon reporting | New Civil Engineer
The ICE is developing a free to access carbon database with construction industry organisations including building research body BRE, the Carbon Trust and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
The database will help support efforts to decarbonise the built environment. Its philosophy is set out in a white paper which was recently published by the consortium of industry bodies involved in establishing the database.
The Built Environment Carbon Database (BECD) aims to become the main source of carbon estimating and benchmarking for the UK construction sector.
The database is being developed to collect and supply product data and entity level data to the industry through its own portal and by interacting with existing databases and software solutions.
ICE Fellow and database steering group member Kat Ibbotson said: “Access to industry-wide data, to support both benchmarking and data improvements, will help not just improve value across the supply chain, but allow for more accurate whole-life carbon reporting. Achieving consistency and quality of data is a huge step in the right direction.
“Infrastructure is responsible for up to 70% of carbon emissions globally, so it’s imperative that we reconsider how we work. It’s not just about designing new low carbon infrastructure in the future, but also mitigating the climate change effects we are already seeing – and retrofitting existing structures.”
She added: “Engineers are problem-solvers and we have both the skill, and I believe a responsibility, to use those skills to help the world confront the climate emergency.”
A carbon database is something that ICE’s Carbon Project identified as being vital to engineers’ efforts to play their part in achieving net zero.
The database will help support efforts to decarbonise the built environment. Its philosophy is set out in a white paper which was recently published by the consortium of industry bodies involved in establishing the database.
The Built Environment Carbon Database (BECD) aims to become the main source of carbon estimating and benchmarking for the UK construction sector.
The database is being developed to collect and supply product data and entity level data to the industry through its own portal and by interacting with existing databases and software solutions.
ICE Fellow and database steering group member Kat Ibbotson said: “Access to industry-wide data, to support both benchmarking and data improvements, will help not just improve value across the supply chain, but allow for more accurate whole-life carbon reporting. Achieving consistency and quality of data is a huge step in the right direction.
“Infrastructure is responsible for up to 70% of carbon emissions globally, so it’s imperative that we reconsider how we work. It’s not just about designing new low carbon infrastructure in the future, but also mitigating the climate change effects we are already seeing – and retrofitting existing structures.”
She added: “Engineers are problem-solvers and we have both the skill, and I believe a responsibility, to use those skills to help the world confront the climate emergency.”
A carbon database is something that ICE’s Carbon Project identified as being vital to engineers’ efforts to play their part in achieving net zero.
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