Embodied carbon of concrete in buildings, Part 1: analysis of published EPD

Cement is responsible for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is predicted to grow with increasing development. The majority is used in concrete, globally the most common material in buildings. Reducing emissions from the use of cement and concrete in buildings is therefore critical in order to limit global warming. However there remain multiple gaps in knowledge about the extent of these emissions. This paper is the first output of a project that aims to understand better the embodied impacts from the use of concrete in buildings, in order to inform and advise policy -makers and industry practitioners, and to provide clear evidence for the path forwards. In order to do so, the project collates, analyses and critiques evidence from multiple sources, reported over three papers. This first paper focuses on the basic data on materials impacts. Over the last few years, several hundred individual Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) have been published for cements, aggregates and concrete mixes, but no publication offers a comparison or overview. Therefore understanding the range and opportunities for the reduction of impacts from concrete remains very limited. This paper provides the first detailed analysis of the EPD for concrete and its constituents.