Jack Mooney

A heuristic framework for the stratified prioritisation of whole life carbon emissions stemming from new-build affordable housing in Scotland

The 2024 recast of the European Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) mandates that all participating countries must benchmark and report whole life carbon emissions from all new buildings from 2030. In Scotland, there is currently no benchmark or requirement to report whole life carbon emissions from new buildings, including new-build housing. The sustainability assessment of new-build housing in Scotland is limited to the operational phase of a building’s life. Current findings indicate that limiting the assessment to the operational phase could exclude ~80%+ of the dwelling’s whole life carbon emissions – a critical assessment gap. Utilising data from new-build dwellings in conjunction with industry insights, this research will analyse the whole life carbon emissions from new-build affordable housing. This analysis will provide insights into the steps that are conducive to producing low levels of whole life carbon emissions and what is possible for national whole life carbon benchmarks for housing.