April 28, 2026
Calculating CO₂ emissions: a practical guid for the construction industry
In the construction sector, sustainability is no longer an optional extra: it is a selection criterion. Architects, contractors and clients demand concrete, measurable and verifiable data. For this reason, the calculation of CO₂ emissions — or, more precisely, of the Carbon Footprint — represents a fundamental step today for anyone operating in the building sector, from material manufacturers to designers.
What is the Carbon Footprint and why it matters in construction
The Carbon Footprint (carbon footprint) is a measure that expresses, in CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) terms, the total greenhouse gas emissions associated with a product, a service or a process.
In the construction context, this means quantifying the emissions generated by each element that becomes part of a building: from raw materials extraction, through factory production, transport to site, up to endoflife disposal. This is the information that was already covered during the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment), the lifecycle analysis.
It is not just about electricity or heating: every construction material — flooring, insulation, finishes, waterproofing — carries a “weight” in terms of climateharming gases that is possible, and necessary, to measure.
The market is increasingly demanding this explicitly through:
- Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)
- Traceable and comparable information
- Compliance with ESG criteria
- Supporting documentation for tenders and technical specifications
Technical deep dive: how emissions are calculated
The calculation principle is relatively simple:
Emissions (CO₂e) = Activity data × Emission factor
Where:
- Activity data = amount consumed (e.g. litres of fuel, kWh of energy, km travelled, tonnes of material used)
- Emission factor (EF) = quantity of CO₂ emitted per unit of activity, obtained from official databases such as ISPRA, IPCC, DEFRA or Ecoinvent
Practical example applied to construction: if a site consumes 500 m³ of natural gas for space heating, the associated emissions are:
500 m³ × 1.95 kg CO₂/m³ = 975 kg CO₂
Similarly, 1 kWh of electricity consumed produces on average about 0.43 kg CO₂, a key figure for assessing the impact of energy consumption during a building’s use phase.
Emissions are expressed in kg or tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e), a unit that allows the inclusion of other greenhouse gases — such as methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) — converted into a warming potential comparable with CO₂ via the GWP (Global Warming Potential) coefficient.
The 5 phases of the calculation method
The most widely used method at European level — and recognised by the ISO 14064 standard and the GHG Protocol — is structured in 5 main phases:
1. Define organisational and system boundaries
Before proceeding with the calculation, it is necessary to clearly define what is being measured. In construction, this means identifying the system under analysis: a single material, a building component, a whole building, or a company’s production process. It is useful to build a flow diagram mapping all inputs and outputs of the system considered.
For a building, the main flows to consider are:
- Heating fuels (gas boiler, district heating)
- Electricity (lighting, equipment, HVAC)
- Refrigerants (fugitive emissions from cooling systems)
- Water (domestic and irrigation use)
- Construction materials for maintenance and refurbishment
- Waste generated during construction and at endoflife
2. Define operational boundaries (Scope 1, 2 and 3)
The GHG Protocol standard distinguishes three categories of emissions:
- Scope 1 – Direct emissions: produced directly by the organisation (e.g. combustion on site, own vehicle fleet, fugitive emissions from airconditioning systems).
- Scope 2 – Indirect emissions from energy: generated by the production of electricity or heat purchased from external sources.
- Scope 3 – Other indirect emissions: covering the entire value chain — transport of materials, waste disposal, employee travel, upstream lifecycle of purchased products.
For construction materials, Scope 3 is often the most relevant: a rubber floor, for example, embeds emissions linked to the extraction of natural or synthetic rubber, chemical vulcanisation processes and transport from the factory to the site.
The calculation of Scope 1 and Scope 2 is mandatory; Scope 3 is optional but increasingly required by sustainability protocols.
3. Collection of activity data
This is the most operational phase. Data are collected via checklists and may include:
- Energy consumption (bills, meters, logs)
- Fuel consumption (delivery notes, fuel cards)
- Quantities of materials purchased (delivery notes, DDT)
- Vehiclekilometres travelled
- Quantities of waste produced and sent for disposal or recovery
The reference period is usually one calendar year.
4. Application of emission factors and calculation
Once data are collected, they are multiplied by the respective emission factors (EF) to obtain emissions expressed in kg CO₂e (or tonnes CO₂e).
It is important to remember that emission factors are not absolute values: they can vary according to country, fuel type, calorific value, technology used and reference year.
For this reason, data should always be obtained from authoritative and uptodate technical sources, such as:
5. Reduction planning and reporting
After identifying and quantifying the main emission sources, the next step is to define a concrete reduction plan, starting from measures that offer the best balance between impact, feasibility and investment.
An effective plan should include:
- Measurable reduction targets
- Indicators to monitor progress over time
- Internal responsibilities and budget
- Timeframe and frequency of data updates
This approach makes it possible not only to measure environmental impact but also to manage it strategically, turning emission data into a lever for improvement.
LCA: the advanced tool for construction materials
For building products, emission calculation is deepened through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) — the LifeCycle Analysis.
LCA evaluates the overall environmental impact of a product across all stages of its life cycle:
- Extraction and processing of raw materials (upstream)
- Production process and factory energy use
- Transport and distribution
- Installation and use phase
- Endoflife: disposal, recovery, recycling (downstream)
The results of an LCA feed into EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) — productlevel environmental declarations — which today are the most requested documents in tender specifications and building certification protocols (e.g. LEED, BREEAM, ITACA).
Why this is strategic for Artigo
For a technicalmaterials manufacturer like Artigo, measuring the CO₂ emissions of its rubber flooring is not just an environmental choice: it is an industrial one. It means:
- Providing transparent data to architects and clients, enabling informed decisions
- Supporting credits within sustainability protocols for certified buildings
- Identifying areas for improvement in the production process, optimising efficiency and costs
- Differentiating in public and international contexts with strict environmental requirements
- Anticipating regulatory evolution, including ESRS reporting obligations
Measured sustainability becomes a competitive, not only a reputational, asset. Companies that know and document their Carbon Footprint are perceived as more reliable, transparent and innovative.
Artigo’s commitment
Artigo develops rubber flooring focused on durability, technical quality and environmental responsibility. Measuring CO₂ emissions is part of a transparency path that allows the company to offer highperformance products backed by objective data — from Carbon Footprint to the product’s complete life cycle.
Because today, designing also means measuring.
For further information about the environmental data of Artigo products, our team is at your disposal.
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