Understanding Carbon

Some common terms:

Carbon dioxide (CO2): A colourless gas produced by burning fossil fuels and other processes; it’s the main greenhouse gas driving climate change.

Environmental Product Declaration (EPD): A verified document that shows the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle.

Embodied carbon: The total greenhouse gas emissions from making, transporting, and installing a material, product or building.

Operational carbon: Greenhouse gases emitted from using, working and living in a building (e.g. heating and lighting). It usually considers water and energy use.

Carbon emissions: Any process that uses energy requires a fuel or energy source. (e.g. manufacturing, transporting goods, disposing of waste). The energy may come from burning fuels like oil and coal, and in doing so, this creates carbon dioxide emissions or ‘carbon emissions’.