Focusing on embodied carbon quantification in Hong Kong, the joint whitepaper measures carbon impacts across building components and project stages, offering the industry a clear basis to set credible carbon reduction targets.
The built environment is one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions, responsible for around 40% of the total. In Hong Kong, buildings alone account for over 60% of carbon emissions and around 90% of electricity consumption. Yet meaningful reduction depends on something the industry has long lacked: a clear, consistent understanding of where carbon actually sits within a building. Most local assessments have looked only at structure and envelope, leaving much of a building’s true footprint unmeasured.
To help close that gap, Arup and Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) have jointly published Whole Life Carbon Assessment — Embodied Carbon Quantification in Hong Kong. The whitepaper takes a practical approach to Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA), pairing quantity data from RLB’s Bills of Quantities (BOQ) with carbon assessment methodologies to measure carbon impacts consistently across different building components and project stages. Drawing primarily on residential and commercial projects in Hong Kong, with additional reference cases from Mainland China, it extends the assessment boundary beyond structure alone to capture every major component, from substructure and superstructure to envelope, space planning, MEP systems and external works.
A clearer picture of where carbon sits
The study reveals promising potential for reducing embodied carbon. In Hong Kong, total embodied carbon typically ranges between 1,100 and 1,400 kgCO₂e/m² for full lifecycle boundaries, around 30 to 40% above international benchmarks, reflecting the city’s high-rise typologies and reliance on carbon-intensive structural materials. That difference shows just how much carbon can be designed out. Much of that opportunity lies in structure, which accounts for over half of a building’s footprint and stands as the clearest priority for reduction. Through scheme optioneering, structural optimization and low-carbon materials such as Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) concrete and recycled steel can achieve meaningful savings at a modest cost premium. By setting these findings against RLB’s quantity data, the study connects carbon and cost, offering the industry a practical way to consider the two together across building components and project stages.
Turning data into action
The study sets out a clear direction for reducing carbon across the sector:
- Act early. The greatest opportunities arise at the concept and procurement stages, making it essential to embed WLCA from the outset rather than late in delivery.
- Harness digital and AI. Digital tools and AI can speed up data processing and improve transparency, demonstrated by an AI agent the study built to interpret BOQs and structure the data for carbon calculations.
- Standardise the data. Consistent methodologies and better carbon-factor data are needed to improve accuracy and comparability, particularly for MEP systems where information remains inconsistent.
- Work across disciplines. Closer collaboration between engineers and quantity surveyors is key to reliable, decision-ready carbon figures.
Together, these steps bring carbon into everyday project decisions as a routine measure, and accelerate progress towards Hong Kong’s 2050 and Mainland China’s 2060 net-zero commitments.
Download Whole Life Carbon Assessment — Embodied Carbon Quantification in Hong Kong to explore the full methodology, benchmarks and recommendations.
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