One of AIRAH’s key advocacy focus areas is the transition to a net-zero future, particularly by reducing emissions from buildings.
As we work to reduce these emissions, we are also learning more about where they originate. In particular, we are understanding the importance of embodied emissions.
In 2021, AIRAH joined the
Materials & Embodied Carbon Leaders’ Alliance (MECLA) – a coalition of more than 100 founding members driving reductions in embodied carbon in the building and construction industry. At that time, working groups had already been established for materials such as steel, concrete, and aluminium. In 2022, it was determined that a working group was needed to look specifically at building services. AIRAH is co-chairing this group.
The goals are to raise awareness of the issue, collect better data for benchmarking, and also to drive demand for low embodied carbon solutions. The group includes representatives from industry bodies, consultants, developers, manufacturers, contractors, and government – providing perspectives across the entire supply chain, and helping to find the solutions.
To build understanding of embodied carbon in building services, the members of the MECLA working group have made the following videos available:
AIRAH Future of HVAC 2022 Conference
Emissions hiding in plain sight: Embodied carbon in building services – Ceire Kenny, Lendlease
AIRAH Future of HVAC 2022 Conference
Embodied energy of mechanical services systems – Nick Adams, M.AIRAH and Tim Bowker, Arup
CIBSE ANZ Seminar Series 2022
Session 1 – End of Life – Taryn Cornell, GBCA; Carlos Flores, M.AIRAH, NABERS; Matthew Sykes, Integral Group Australia; Grace Foo, M.AIRAH, DeltaQ
Look out for MECLA activities over the coming months. For more information, visit
mecla.org.au or email
[email protected]
This page was last updated December 5, 2022
