Coalition for life cycle emissions alignment and reporting (CLEAR)

The buildings and construction sector accounts for around 21% of global GHG emissions and almost 40% of global energy-related emissions, yet there is no consistent way to measure and report on carbon across a building or infrastructure asset's whole life cycle. As professionals, standard setters and policymakers have increasingly developed their own methodologies, this has created fragmentation, making it impossible to benchmark or compare carbon results across projects and jurisdictions.

CLEAR was created to solve this. By bringing together leading global organisations including standard setters, industry coalitions, developers, investors and software providers, CLEAR will harmonise whole life carbon assessment and reporting between national and regional methodologies, and support countries and policymakers in forming globally aligned approaches from the outset.

Initially, CLEAR will analyse and quantify the differences between the leading global WLCA approaches, ultimately developing a framework for harmonising assessment and reporting methodologies. Key pertinent global and regional initiatives will be mapped to carefully craft CLEAR’s roadmap that adds value and avoids duplication.

An online platform for the initiative will be developed to host the initiative’s principles, insights, resources and tools in a freely accessible way.

In the longer term, CLEAR has the aim to develop practical tools for industry and policy stakeholders to access that will support capacity building policy implementation. 

Over the course of three years, CLEAR will continue to engage and collaborate with leading industry bodies and firms globally in the development of its tools and resources. This includes engagement at global COP, UNEP/GlobalABC and other international conventions to disseminate its findings to policy, industry and procurement professionals worldwide.

To help support RICS’ public interest remit of accelerating the adoption of globally aligned whole life carbon assessments in the built environment, CLEAR will work to identify gaps in data availability and strategies to overcome these gaps.

By creating a harmonised framework for the alignment of approaches to carbon measurement and reporting across different markets and jurisdictions, CLEAR can support the public interest and underpin greater transparency and trust in professional carbon measurement.

Insight developed by CLEAR will be relevant across global markets.

Where methodologies for whole life carbon assessment exist, CLEAR will clarify methodological differences and enable transparent comparison between results conducted through different assessment methodologies.

For jurisdictions where methodologies for whole life carbon assessment have not yet been developed, CLEAR will provide tools, training and guidance on how to achieve global alignment. These tools will support policymakers, industry and procurement professionals, enabling industry upskilling and policy acceleration.

While CLEAR has global scope, the insight and tools developed by the initiative are designed to address barriers in formal building and construction markets; those where building codes, standards and regulation are utilised.

CLEAR is a self-sustaining initiative. Its founders, collaborators and affiliates each contribute resources annually. These are managed by RICS and solely used for the purpose of developing planned outputs.

CLEAR is not designed to produce a new standard or measurement methodology that will replace the RICS professional standard (PS) on Whole Life Carbon Assessment or any other existing whole life carbon assessment standard.

Instead, the CLEAR initiative aims to review, identify and clarify methodological inconsistencies between different existing approaches and develop tools enabling transparent comparison between carbon results generated using different methodologies. The RICS PS on Whole Life Carbon Assessment, EU Level(s) work and updated EPBD requirements, ASHRAE 240p, and EN15978 will still continue to serve as guidance to direct measure and report whole life carbon emissions.

CLEAR will produce free to access insights highlighting methodological differences between existing whole life carbon frameworks, alongside tools to compare carbon assessment data gathered using different frameworks. These outputs are designed to integrate directly into existing data repositories and benchmarking initiatives, helping to translate and benchmark carbon assessments and reporting data across markets and methodologies, promoting greater credibility and consistency.

By enabling harmonisation among WLCA methodologies, CLEAR will support the adoption of whole life carbon standards in industry and policy. This in turn drives demand for environmental product declarations and promotes the use of product-level carbon data that facilitates compliance with global life cycle carbon assessment frameworks.

Industry manufacturers are invited to collaborate with CLEAR to examine how to improve the quality and availability of product-level carbon data.

The insight provided by CLEAR will inform the development of data and tools designed to enable alignment between different carbon measurement and reporting methodologies.

Technology and service providers are invited to collaborate with CLEAR and use its outputs to inform the development of digital tools for the assessment and reporting of whole life carbon.

CLEAR outputs will help to build confidence in life cycle carbon measurement and reporting, supporting their improved integration into policy, regulation and public procurement.

CLEAR aims to provide tools and resources that support upskilling of policy makers in the design, development and implementation of whole life carbon assessment regulations.

Organisations eligible to participate in CLEAR must: 

• Operate within the built environment sector.
• Demonstrate a clear commitment to decarbonisation through life-cycle emissions measurement and reporting.
• Align with WLCA principles and support industry-wide transparency and benchmarking.
• Be willing to share progress and collaborate on initiatives that advance carbon reduction across the value chain.
• Have the ability to contribute resources—such as funding, data, expertise, technology solutions, or tools - to support CLEAR’s objectives and collective action.
   

Participation is open globally to public and private sector entities.

CLEAR relates to two major global initiatives in this space: WBCSD’s Market Transformation Action Agenda (MTAA) Lever 1 and Whole Life Cycle Policy Coalition (WLCP.Co). The MTAA and CLEAR are being co-led under the same framework to harmonise whole life carbon accounting. Meanwhile, WLCP.Co’s work in developing life cycle methods to create consistency in measuring and reducing whole life cycle impacts in the built environment aligns with CLEAR’s overall goals.

Both initiatives sit within the broader ecosystem of the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), the leading global platform for built environment stakeholders committed to a zero-emission, resilient buildings and construction sector.