Environmental Standards and Embedded Carbon in the Built Environment

Abstract

As the awareness of the potential impacts of climate change increases, so will the imperative to reduce the level of anthropogenic atmospheric fossil carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One very important consideration in this is the use of forests and forest products as long term atmospheric carbon stores. This chapter discusses the current situation relating to voluntary standards and how the environmental benefits associated with sequestered carbon in timber products may be measured and reported. When timber products from sustainably managed forests are utilised in the built environment this can have a positive environmental benefit (Hill 2011) but the question is how should this benefit be reported? With increasing emphasis being placed upon the environmental performance of goods and services it is essential that robust procedures are developed to validate claims. The importance of considering the built environment as an additional atmospheric carbon sink in long-life products is now receiving particular attention. Simultaneously, Europe is about to adopt legislation dealing with the certification of timber products. One reason for this is the failure to universally adopt voluntary certification schemes.