Proceedings

The parameters by which decisions are made during development of projects include cost, buildability,
operability, health and safety, environmental impact, public relations and politics. To this decision matrix,
we have added carbon footprint estimates.

The objective is to reduce green house gas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere, in order to reduce
global warming. There is a danger that this objective gets confused with political agendas.
The various sticks and carrots that lead us to do carbon footprint estimates are briefly listed and
discussed.

As planners and designers of projects, we concentrate on using carbon footprint calculations to minimise
the GHG emissions that can be related to the project. This may include whole life carbon footprint,
component carbon footprint and financial analyses involving the shadow price of carbon.
The possible constraints are discussed, including reliability of carbon data, knowledge of project data, lack
of standard methodologies, boundary setting and client acceptance.