Singapore – Arup has signed the Singapore Built Environment Embodied Carbon Pledge by the Singapore Green Building Council (SGBC). It aims to raise awareness of, and develop actions to address, the sector’s impact on embodied carbon emissions.

The built environment sector is responsible for almost 40 percent of global carbon emissions and this applies to the entire building and construction value chain. Consultants, in particular, have a role in designing for sustainability at the early phase of a project, where we have opportunities to work with developers and industry at the outset to influence design, building material and resource efficiency.

Arup continues to push the boundaries of sustainable development in Singapore with its work across renewable energy, green buildings, green economy, sustainable infrastructure and planning for resilient cities. 

To help decarbonise the built environment, Arup aims to address embodied carbon emissions with design optimisations and specifications, guided by three core principles set out by the SGBC: building material selection, minimising material use and waste through collaborative design, and rethinking construction processes to use renewable energy and electricity. 

Arup’s recent research with the World Business Council for Sustainable Buildings calls on the built environment industry to adopt a whole of life-cycle approach to assessing the greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. It is estimated that less than 1 percent of building projects currently calculate and report their full carbon footprint.

“The SGBC embodied carbon pledge is a catalyst for the sector to join forces and set meaningful targets to achieve decarbonisation over the next few decades. With more collaboration, we can shift the needle by helping the built environment sector transform and reuse existing buildings, build less, cleverly and efficiently, and minimise waste through offsite prefabrication,” said Tan Yoong Heng, Singapore Office Leader.

The Pledge was launched during the digital SGBC-REDAS Green Real Estate Trends Conference 2021 on 5 August, with more than 50 organisations across the building and construction sector declaring their participation.

Signing this pledge underscores and reinforces Arup’s commitment to sustainability initiatives. Globally the firm has joined the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment to reach net zero carbon in operation for all assets under its control by 2030.