Whole-life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions

From cradle to grave

The definition covers the full life of a building, in order. It starts with the production and transport of construction products, continues through construction-site activities, the use of energy in the building and the replacement of construction products, and ends with demolition and the handling of waste, including reuse, recycling and final disposal.

It contains the operational emissions of point (23) as one stage, the use of energy in the building, and adds what operational figures leave out: the emissions embodied in materials and works. For a new, efficient building the embodied share can be large, because the operational share is small.

The Directive does not ask for this quantity to be reported as such. What it asks for is the life-cycle global warming potential in point (25), an indicator that quantifies the global warming potential contributions of a building over its full life cycle. Article 7(2) requires that indicator to be calculated in accordance with Annex III and disclosed in the energy performance certificate, from 1 January 2028 for new buildings above 1,000 m² and from 1 January 2030 for all new buildings. Annex III has since been replaced by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/52, which sets the Union framework for the national calculation.

Article 7(5) asks Member States to publish, by 1 January 2027, a roadmap for limit values on the total cumulative life-cycle GWP of all new buildings, with targets from 2030.

In our search of the enacting terms, the term appears only in this definition; the operative articles work with life-cycle GWP.