A Framework for Accounting for Embodied Carbon in Water Industry Assets

The purpose of this document is to provide clear and consistent guidelines for UK water companies to: estimate the carbon embodied in constructing and maintaining capital assets using recognised sources of information; carry out 'whole life' carbon accounting for investment selection; and develop strategies for carbon reduction.
The document constitutes an update from previous guidelines in the light of developments in the field. Specifically, (i) the boundaries within which companies should assess their carbon emissions have been changed to match recent Government guidance, (ii) the approaches for embodied carbon and whole life carbon accounting/costing have been revised to support decision-making for low carbon capital investment and (iii) a meta-database of sources of carbon emission factors has been developed to facilitate their common use across the water industry.
Guidance is provided to help companies select accounting boundaries and emission factors expressed in metrics most appropriate to the type of assessment undertaken.

Embodied Carbon Meta Database_finalised August 2012