“[…] unless we start to regulate the use of [materials in buildings] in terms of the embodied carbon impact we are missing the proverbial elephant in the room.” 

This is a quote from Paul King (Managing Director of Sustainability and Social Impact - Lendlease Europe), one of a number of supportive statements (published here) from the real estate industry for the concept of regulating embodied carbon. And as Bisnow reports, we have the prospect of a bill before parliament that limits embodied carbon emissions on construction projects (as well as mandatory reporting). It is all based on proposed changes to building regulations - for an excellent explanation, see here. 

As Will Arnold discusses in this blog, embodied carbon limits are not new, with limits in the Netherlands since 2018. The London Plan requires carbon assessments on major projects as part of a planning application and voluntary industry "regulation" is underway. Surely regulatory change is inevitable? And even without industry regulation, will we see more investors drill down contractually with developers, mandating limits on embodied carbon emissions in development agreements, etc? And, of course, this is all against the backdrop of supply chain difficulties in the construction sector...