Carbon in the Built Environment

The Built Environment is responsible for 39% of global energy related carbon emissions. 28% is from operational emissions which is the energy needed to heat, cool and power buildings, and the remaining 11% is from emissions associated to manufacturing of construction materials and building products and on-site construction activities. Locally, buildings account for about 20% of Singapore’s national carbon emissions and play a significant role in towards national decarbonization goals.
The latest Singapore Green Building Masterplan incorporates ambitious targets to green 80% of Singapore’s buildings and to push boundaries on the best-in-class energy efficiency performance of buildings. Unlike operational carbon that can be reduced through implementing energy efficiency measures or shifting to renewable energy sources, embodied carbon is upfront and unable to be reduced over the lifetime of a building’s lifecycle.
If embodied carbon emissions are not addressed before the building project moves past the design stage, there is no way for building owners to reclaim lost carbon savings once the building is constructed and subsequently used. The upfront emissions from materials and products used to construct buildings and infrastructure, and those installed later during maintenance and renovation, usually represent a significantly greater source of embodied carbon than all other stages in the lifecycle.
SGBC, in collaboration and partnership with key industry stakeholders, maintains a suite of targeted initiatives to help address carbon emissions in the built environment.

Environmental Product Declarations, or EPDs, are third party verified documents that report on the environmental impacts of a product throughout its lifespan. The results are based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) analysis of the product, consisting of raw material extraction and supply chain, manufacturing facilities and product production, product in-use and maintenance, and its end-of-life disposal or reuse. EPDs are developed in accordance to ISO 14025 on Type III Environmental Declaration and serve as a critical communication tool on the product’s LCA results, including its carbon emissions, or global warming potential (GWP) associated with each step of its lifecycle. For construction sector products and materials, EPDs additionally abide by EN 15804 and/or ISO 21930 which describe the product category rules (PCR) for EPDs of construction products.
Demand for verified EPDs is growing to support the focus on whole life carbon and the pursuit of net zero targets. EPDs allow consultants and purchasers to pick the most sustainable materials for building design and construction, and green building rating schemes are increasingly including carbon performance into their assessment criteria. EPDs also support the manufacturer to identify hotspots for further carbon reduction in its operations and contribute towards their own decarbonisation targets. For exports into European markets, the increase in carbon transparency of products will be critical due to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which places a carbon price onto imports into the European Union (EU).
The Singapore Green Building Product (SGBP) certification scheme keeps abreast of these developments and continues to advocate for sustainable building products and materials. Under the latest SGBP criteria revisions, steel and ready-mixed concrete products are now being evaluated based on GWP reported in accepted EPDs for certification. SGBC works with industry collaborators via its technical committees to review other product categories and when relevant, would shift towards GWP reporting via EPDs.
DEVELOPING EPDs
A growing number of organisations are offering EPD consultancy services to support manufacturers in accurately reporting the carbon emissions of their products, meet procurement/ regulatory requirements, and gain a competitive edge in the green building products market.
The following SGBC Members are able to provide EPD development services for product manufacturers:
- Climate Asia Pte Ltd – [email protected]
- One Click LCA – [email protected]

The Embodied Carbon in Buildings Calculation Guide supports Singapore’s decarbonisation efforts by providing guidance on defining the scope and methodology for measuring and reporting the embodied carbon emissions of building and construction activities. It is particularly useful for understanding the upfront carbon of building and infrastructure projects, where upfront carbon is the emissions resulting from the materials production and construction phases of an asset’s lifecycle, before the building or infrastructure asset begins to be used. In contrast to other categories of emissions, these emissions have already been released into the atmosphere before the building is occupied or the infrastructure asset begins operations.
This free-to-use Guide is intended to serve as an informative resource to harmonise carbon emissions data collection efforts during the design and construction phases of projects, and to provide a standardised framework for the reporting of embodied carbon emissions. This will facilitate the aggregation of embodied carbon emissions information of Singapore’s buildings and construction activities, and allow for national averages and benchmarks to be determined. This serves as data driven guideposts from which further decarbonisation targets can be set.
The Singapore Building Carbon Calculator (SBCC) provides the local built environment sector with a unified, free-to-use tool to account for the carbon emissions of their projects and facilitate the reduction of embodied carbon from building materials, products and mechanical & electrical equipment which results in lower carbon footprint of our buildings.
Carbon calculators available in global markets capture the dataset of globally available materials which may not be supplied into Singapore for local projects. The emission factors of building materials captured in these calculators would be more suited to other regions in the world and lead to inaccurate carbon accounting if adopted locally. As such, carbon accounting for Singapore’s buildings remained a challenge due to the lack of robust localised material carbon database and limited guidelines on what materials to include in the calculations.
To address this, JTC commissioned the National University of Singapore’s Energy Studies Institute (ESI) to develop localised building carbon calculation tools in collaboration with the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA). The SBCC comprises of 2 comprehensive spreadsheets for architectural and civil & structural construction materials, and mechanical & electrical building equipment.
These tools were developed through the sourcing of more than a thousand certified environmental product declarations (EPDs) of construction materials and products, and life cycle assessments (LCA). EPDs are industrially derived data, which command a high degree of accuracy through a series of testing and independent third-party validation, while LCA is an analytical tool that assesses the environmental impacts of a product or service through its life cycle.
The calculators enable carbon accounting with adapted carbon emission factors to reflect the carbon footprint of building and infrastructure projects within the local context. Usage of the calculators would provide the industry with the tools to make informed decisions on material and product selections to reduce the carbon footprint of projects for use under the Sustainable Construction section of the Code for Environmental Sustainability of Buildings (Edition 4.0) and the Green Mark 2021 Whole Life Carbon Section.
FOR BUILDING PROJECTS
Architectural and Civil & Structural Materials Carbon Calculator (BECC*)
Purpose:
To help calculate the embodied carbon emissions arising from architectural and C&S products
Who it is for:
Relevant for Architects, structural engineers, ESD designers, GMPs overseeing the design or procurement of architectural / C&S products
*Building Embodied Carbon Calculator
Mechanical & Electrical Equipment Carbon Calculator (MECC)
Purpose:
To help calculate the embodied carbon emissions arising from mechanical and reticulation products
Who it is for:
Relevant for mechanical engineers, ESD designers, GMPs overseeing the design or procurement of mech and reticulation products
Terms of Use:
The Singapore Building Carbon Calculator is developed by Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore, as part of a study commissioned by Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) and in collaboration with Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC) (“we”, “us” or “our”). By virtue of accessing and/or using the SBCC, you are deemed to have accepted to be legally bound by these Terms of Use.
- These Terms of Use may be changed from time to time. All changes will be posted on this page, and your use of this Site after such changes have been posted will constitute your agreement to the modified Terms of Use and all relevant changes.
- Except as otherwise provided, the SBCC shall not be reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted or otherwise distributed in any way, without the prior permission of SGBC. The user must seek permission in writing, stating the contents for use; intent of use; manner of use; time frame of use and identity of the user. SGBC reserves the right to refuse permission without declaring reason(s); and/or if information submitted by the user is deemed insufficient. The link to the SGBC website should always be provided, so that users may check for the most up to date version of the calculator: https://www.sgbc.sg/resources/eccalculator
- Modification of any of the Contents or use of the Contents for any other purpose will be a violation of copyright and other intellectual property rights in the SBCC held by NUS/ESI and JTC.
- To the full extent permissible by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability and non-infringement. The Singapore Building Carbon Calculator (“SBCC”) is provided for use on an ‘as is’ basis and usage of the SBCC will be at your sole risk. The SBCC has been designed to be used to assess the embodied carbon impact under the Code for Environmental Sustainability of Buildings (Edition 4.0) and the Green Mark 2021 scheme. We make no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to (a) the suitability of the SBCC for any other purposes or under any other circumstances, (b) meeting your requirements or expectations, (c) the accuracy of the results arising from the use of the SBCC, or (d) whether the SBCC shall be free from errors which may be corrected. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, we shall not be liable for any and all damages of any kind arising from the use of the SBCC, including but not limited to, damages which are special, incidental, direct, indirect, consequential or punitive in nature, including lost profit, lost revenue or loss of data, whether foreseeable or otherwise, even if informed in advance of the possibility of such damages, and whether arising in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise.