Infrastructure Investor: The embodied carbon blind spot

Director, Sustainability at Actis, James Magor, recently spoke with Barclay Ballard of Infrastructure Investor for his article on the issue of embodied carbon. Click here to read the full article online, here to read it in the print issue of the magazine (pp.78-80) and read on below for some of James’ commentary.

James Magor, Director, Sustainability at Actis, commented:

“The question of how big an issue the embodied carbon blind spot is depends on how you define the blind spot. For us, it’s not a blind spot as such. We are acutely aware of the embodied carbon issue, but there is a lot of complexity to embodied carbon measurement, which inevitably results in gaps or inaccuracies when measuring. The inherent complexities that you get with Scope 3 measurements, for example, mean you are often relying on assumptions and estimates, which make things more uncertain compared with Scope 1 and Scope 2 measurements.

“We conduct sustainable design reviews at the outset for all our new developments. We also look at sustainability as a mechanism for optimising capex and opex on a development. While embodied carbon can present measurement challenges, it also comes with interesting opportunities to reduce costs. We’ve seen quite a close link between embodied carbon reduction and cost savings, whether it’s achieved by using recycled materials or local sourcing.”