Learn more about the latest low-carbon materials-related news and updates in the construction industry
Embodied carbon is responsible for a significant share of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions — and unlike operational emissions, which occur gradually, embodied emissions happen upfront. That means reducing them delivers immediate climate impact, a critical advantage as we race toward net zero.
Peter Mu
Co-founder
As Australia advances policies targeting a 60% reduction in building embodied carbon by 2030 and net zero by 2050, carbon assessment is becoming a core practice. Cost planners, sustainability consultants, BIM coordinators, contractors, and project managers will need to align their endeavour to turn raw quantity schedules into reliable embodied carbon metrics, so as to enable broad collaboration to reduce carbon across all building stages and design maturities. This article will provide a step-by-step guide that anyone can follow.
Jason Zhang
Co-founder
Understanding embodied carbon across the built environment begins with knowing where and how data is sourced. In Australia, practitioners rely on a suite of “generic” databases, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and bespoke benchmarks to set baselines, drive design decisions, and verify carbon reductions. In the second piece of Low Carbon Materials Hub's "Demystifying Embodied Carbon" series, we unpack each resource, compare their strengths and limitations, and offer practical guidance for selecting and documenting your project baseline.
Jason Zhang
Co-founder
The built environment generates 39% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Around 28% comes from running buildings, while 11% is embodied in the materials and construction process. If current practices persist, these emissions will account for half of the climate impact of new construction between now and 2050.
Jason Zhang
Co-founder
In embodied carbon assessment, proprietary methodologies and in house data define competitive edge. Nulla isn’t just another off the shelf calculator—it becomes your own intellectual property. By fully integrating your organisation’s frameworks, assumptions and conversion factors, Nulla transforms into a bespoke carbon assessment copilot, uniquely trained on your workflows and standards.
Jason Zhang
Co-founder
Embodied carbon has become central to sustainable construction, yet gathering and comparing that data across multiple projects has always been a daunting, resource heavy task. Teams spend hours mapping quantity take offs to carbon factors, engage costly consultants and still often receive insights too late to influence design or procurement. Nulla changes everything. By automating the entire mapping process, Nulla turns weeks of manual work and significant fees into a few hours of effortless analysis, democratising embodied carbon benchmarking for consultants, developers and builders alike.
Jason Zhang
Co-founder
In the world of embodied carbon assessment, data accuracy and turnaround speed are critical. Yet even the most seasoned sustainability or ESD consultants can find their schedule eroded by manual tasks—chief among them, mapping quantities to carbon factors and updating models as BOQs evolve. Nulla is built to address exactly these pain points, acting as a carbon assessment copilot that turbocharges your workflow without replacing your professional judgement.
Jason Zhang
Co-founder
Australia’s built environment is responsible for nearly one-third of the nation’s carbon emissions, with embodied carbon (emissions from materials and construction) contributing a growing share. While operational energy is increasingly regulated, embodied emissions have only recently begun to receive policy attention. This article provides an overview of where Australia stands at both federal and state levels, how our efforts compare globally, and how embodied carbon fits within Australia’s broader net zero transition strategy.
Australia’s building industry is under pressure to reduce carbon emissions. From homes and commercial development to major infrastructure, professionals are increasingly trying to measure and reduce both embodied and operational carbon emissions. But there’s a big problem getting in the way: the carbon data is messy, inconsistent, and hard to consume. This challenge, often referred to as carbon data mapping, is now a daily frustration for architects, engineers, builders and sustainability consultants. It slows down projects, adds complexity and ultimately makes it harder to hit the climate goals.
LCMH has undertaken a supplier-level market assessment using currently available EPD data. This assessment provides a high-level overview of the Australian concrete supplier landscape, with a focus on GWP performance and the distribution of concrete products available from suppliers with EPDs.
To help industry stakeholders reduce emissions and make informed choices, LCMH and MECLA have co-developed a Concrete Products Benchmark, tailored specifically to the Australian context.
To support more informed material choices and carbon target-setting, LCMH has integrated a comparative view of Australia’s most widely used reference benchmarking databases for concrete.
Australia’s building industry is undergoing a significant transformation as it moves towards low-carbon construction. While strong progress has been made in decarbonising locally produced materials such as concrete, steel, and timber, there remains a major blind spot in carbon planning: imported building materials. With Australia heavily reliant on global supply chains, addressing the carbon impact of these imports is becoming increasingly critical.
As carbon transparency becomes increasingly important in the construction and manufacturing sectors, two key tools have emerged for quantifying and disclosing the climate impacts of products: carbon footprint reports (CFRs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). While both report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, they are governed by different standards, follow distinct procedures, and serve different purposes. This article outlines the critical differences between these two approaches, focusing on their standards, verification, comparability, and alignment with Product Category Rules (PCRs).
Steel is a cornerstone of Australia's building, infrastructure, and manufacturing sectors. Despite the country's well-established steel industry, a gap persists between local production and total consumption, necessitating substantial imports. In 2023, Australia’s net import of steel products exceeded 1 million tonnes, accounting for approximately 15% of total consumption. While steel plays an essential role in modern construction, it is also a major contributor to embodied carbon in the built environment. This makes accurate carbon measurement of steel products—especially imported materials—a crucial aspect of sustainable construction practices in Australia. Without reliable data, project teams may struggle to assess and mitigate the environmental impact of their material choices.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) have become an essential tool in the Australian construction industry, particularly within the concrete sector. As sustainability and carbon reduction efforts gain traction, EPDs provide a standardised way to assess and compare the environmental impact of different concrete products. This article explores the current state of concrete EPDs in Australia and New Zealand, including the number of registered EPDs, the leading suppliers, and their role in sustainable construction.
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a standardised document that provides transparent, verified information about the environmental impact of a product throughout its lifecycle. It is based on the principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and follows international standards such as ISO 14025 and EN 15804. In Australia, EPDs are increasingly important in the construction industry, helping architects, engineers, contractors, and developers select materials with lower environmental footprints, supporting sustainable building practices, and complying with regulatory requirements such as the National Construction Code (NCC) and Green Star rating system.
Embodied carbon makes up 16% of Australia’s built environment emissions, but this number could rise to 85% as operational energy efficiency improves, making its accurate measurement critical for achieving climate goals. Yet, there are key issues with the prevailing methods of calculating these emissions, which may undermine sustainable building practices and hinder the transition towards a decarbonised built environment.
At Low Carbon Materials Hub (LCMH), we believe that better access to material environmental data is key to driving real change in the built environment. That’s why we’re excited to launch LCMH Database Version 3—a major upgrade designed to empower industry professionals with the data they need, when they need them.
Explore our enhanced database with 5,000+ new EPDs, advanced benchmarking tools, and improved project management features for smarter, sustainable material sourcing.
Discover the key differences between ISO 21930 and EN 15804 EPD standards, and learn which one best suits your construction project's regional and certification needs.
Explore three key EPD standards shaping sustainable construction - from ILCD's European rigor to OpenEPD's accessibility and ISO 22057's BIM integration.