RICS Building Carbon Database

The RICS Building Carbon database is an evolution of the Wrap Embodied Carbon Database which was commissioned by WRAP and the UK Green Building Council to capture embodied carbon data for whole buildings. The aim is to provide a free and publicly available resource for building professionals to be able to benchmark their designs to a far greater extent and to more detailed comparative data than was previously available to any single company or individual.

The database has been created in the context of the joint government and industry ambition to reduce emissions associated with the construction industry by 50% by 2025 . The database will be instrumental in helping organisations to meet this ambition by providing a source of data which people from across the whole supply chain, including engineers, architects and quantity surveyors, can use to benchmark building designs and as a result, assist in identifying where carbon reductions can be made.

The information in the database has been collated and presented in a clear, comprehensive and standards compliant way to allow project teams to gain an understanding of the typical embodied carbon footprint of different building types. While the database initially focusses on buildings, the hope is that infrastructure projects will be incorporated in the future.