Case Study: Embodied Carbon

EmiratesGBC marked the 2021 World Green Building Week with the launch of the first embodied carbon study in the UAE for a shopping mall. The embodied carbon assessment study for My City Centre Masdar, Majid Al Futtaim’s first shopping mall in Abu Dhabi, and the 25th in the region, was conducted under the patronage of the Royal Danish Consulate General in Dubai, with Majid Al Futtaim as the Net Zero Centre of Excellence Champion and Ramboll as Consultant.

The assessment in this project is aimed to evaluate the impact of sustainable material procurement as compared to business-as-usual material procurement on the embodied carbon emissions of the asset. It also supports the EmiratesGBC’s Net Zero Centre of Excellence objectives of advancing the net zero carbon movement in the UAE.

EmiratesGBC Recommendation

It is crucial to establish an embodied carbon reduction target at the earliest stages of the project to ensure appropriate tracking of the targeted emissions reductions through a Carbon Management Process

Case Study Highlights

  • The case study involved a carbon assessment for Majid Al Futtaim’s My City Centre Masdar using ISO 14040:2006 methodology for stages A1-A4.
  • A total of 13 groups of materials was considered for the final embodied carbon analysis.
  • An overall 14% embodied carbon savings is achieved when comparing the embodied carbon emissions of a base case scenario with no carbon reduction measures (i.e. assuming no recycled or low-carbon contents), to the embodied carbon emissions of the as built-scenario with sustainable material procurement (i.e. higher percentages of recycled content)
  • A 21% reduction is seen when considering only the super-structure of the building.

Click here to read the case study.

Under the Patronage of the Royal Danish Consulate General in Dubai

 

 

Net Zero Centre of Excellence Champions                             Consultant