Boundary of the Tool is designed to cover the embodied carbon of materials, transportation and site impacts and is aligned with the principles of ISO 14040:2006 standards.
The Tool is specifically developed to be used on projects in Hong Kong and the emissions factors used in the Tool are not applicable for projects that are not within Hong Kong.
Materials within the Tool cover the core and shell elements of projects e.g. steel, concrete, façade and asphalt. The aim is to account for at least 80% of the overall embodied carbon of construction materials used.
Emission factors do not exist currently for many construction materials in Hong Kong. To ensure the factors are as reflected as possible we took the following approach:
Third Party Verification of the Tool was carried out by SGS Hong Kong Limited in 2019.
The verification covered
the methodology of life cycle carbon assessment for a construction project used in the Tool
the carbon emission factors for all types of materials and construction works used in the Tool in 2019
the Web-based calculation function of the Tool to eliminate systematic error to demonstrate consistency and accuracy of outputs of the Tool to ensure the methodology and development were transparent and robust
The project also engaged key Hong Kong Academics to substantiate the methodology and carbon emissions factors included in the Tool.
