What does CLEAR mean for the built environment in practice?
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06 October 2026
CLEAR: helping organisations to make better, more efficient decisions on carbon
Organisations working in the built environment and property sectors are facing growing challenges connected to climate change, resource pressures and resilience. With the sector responsible for a considerable share of worldwide emissions, many governments and organisations increasingly recognise the need to measure and manage carbon.
But as initiatives to set standards and ways to measure carbon grow rapidly, this unfortunately creates a fragmented system, where multiple means of measuring carbon make it difficult to compare results from these systems with any confidence.
Why a fragmented system for whole life carbon assessment is a barrier to decarbonisation
Depending on where a whole life carbon assessment (WLCA) is being conducted in the world, the set of guidelines, processes or rules to follow (i.e. the standard by which an assessor makes sure the way they measure carbon is line with an agreed way of doing) will vary considerably.
This fragmentation of approaches impacts a broad range of stakeholders operating in the built environment. It prevents these organisations from moving forward in measuring, and ultimately better managing, carbon.
Manufacturers producing lower-carbon materials and products want to ensure their products perform against standards set by policy, regulation or legislation in all the countries and markets where they sell their products. Companies producing software to help conduct carbon assessments who want to scale their businesses need to ensure their products are accurate and perform across borders. Property portfolio managers setting strategy for their company want to find the lower-carbon solutions that can be scaled across locations.
The reality for many organisations that work across borders, in multiple jurisdictions, or with international clients or investors who wish to measure whole life carbon, is that they will be required to rework calculations on a project, and revise and redevelop a product or software solution multiple times to suit different environmental, social and governmental and policy requirements.
Alongside the additional time and cost associated with reworking solutions in this manner, the sector also lacks globally-orientated research that has assessed, identified and quantified how and why the results of one kind of carbon assessment differ or compares with another. Without the capability to assess, explain, benchmark or ultimately compare the results of an assessment done using one standard compared to another, any stakeholder wishing to measure and better manage carbon across projects risks losing the confidence of their clients, investors or employers.
Where CLEAR comes in
At a crucial time in the international development of standards for carbon measurement, CLEAR will analyse and quantify the differences between leading approaches, ultimately developing a framework for harmonising assessment and reporting methodologies.
Further down the line, CLEAR will also create guidance to support countries and policy makers in forming globally-aligned methodologies from the outset. In doing so, CLEAR will support the Market Transformation Action Agenda and Buildings Breakthrough initiatives, which also aim to address the lack of WLCA harmonisation.
What does this mean for professionals conducting WLCAs?
The resources developed by CLEAR will help WLCA assessors move from individual, fragmented, project-by-project carbon modelling to more standardised, scalable and comparable assessments.
This reduces rework, and improves credibility with stakeholders, enabling more effective and efficient delivery across international portfolios. This means:
- greater confidence, credibility and trust in design, procurement and investment decisions based on WLCAs
- quality assurance processes are more efficient
- less time spent rerunning models for different frameworks and WLCA methodologies
- models and data can be reused across different jurisdictions and clients.
Projects, portfolios and companies are also better prepared for risks connected to changing compliance and regulatory requirements because they can align with emerging mandatory disclosure regimes, reduce risk connected to non-compliant reporting formats and more easily manage the transition to portfolio-level reporting for investors.
What does this mean for organisations creating products, software, standards or benchmarks to support WLCAs?
CLEAR’s outputs are designed to support technical and market alignment that better enables solutions providers to build once and scale across markets.
A single harmonisation framework reduces the need for duplication, increases interoperability and enables companies to better position their products in the emerging global WLCA ecosystem. This means:
- more credibility, confidence and trust in tools and products developed to measure and compare carbon across projects
- easier routes to interoperability with building information modelling (BIM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) tools, as fewer bespoke systems are required
- more easily comparable datasets for benchmarking and analytics
- reduced uncertainty, as organisations are better prepared for future market requirements
- faster and more efficient product development and global rollout
- improved reliability of automated calculations and AI-driven modelling.
Visit the coalition’s landing page for more information on the initiative and how it aims to deliver clarity, consistency and credibility to carbon emission measuring and reporting. Our Sustainability hub has more info on the work we’re doing to make a difference across the built environment.
The coalition is made of organisations dedicated to making a difference:
“2050 Materials joined CLEAR because whole life carbon assessment only works when the industry can rely on transparent, comparable and accessible data. By bringing together organisations across the built environment, CLEAR can help reduce fragmentation and give practitioners greater confidence in the information behind their carbon decisions. We’re pleased to support an initiative that moves the sector toward more consistent, evidence-based assessment and better material choices at scale.”
Phanos Hadjikyriakou
Co-Founder and CEO, 2050 Materials
“Through CLEAR, we can continue to accelerate the sustainable transformation of the built environment by harmonising carbon emissions reporting, facilitating informed decisions across projects and policies globally.”
Marc Collela
Senior Vice President, Global Buildings and Places, AECOM
“Arcadis is pleased to support CLEAR in advancing a sector-wide shift toward credible, comparable whole-life carbon reporting across buildings and infrastructure to equip clients to take targeted measures to mitigate their carbon footprint. Whole-life carbon management is a key aspect of work undertaken by Arcadis in planning, engineering, cost, procurement, policy, and asset strategy. Collaboration will help Arcadis shape a globally recognised framework and strengthen our ability to advise clients on effective measures to manage their carbon emission.”
David Smith BSc, PhD, FIEMA, CEnv
Technical Director – Sustainability Advisory, Arcadis
“ASHRAE’s participation in CLEAR is an important opportunity to help shape how whole-life carbon emissions are understood, measured and reported around the world. As the industry works toward greater consistency and transparency in evaluating the environmental impact of buildings and infrastructure, it is important that standards organisations and industry leaders are working from a common foundation. Through CLEAR, ASHRAE can share its technical expertise, contribute to that global alignment and help advance the international adoption of Standard 240P. This partnership reinforces ASHRAE’s commitment to providing practical, credible resources that support better decision-making throughout the life of a building.”
Stet Sanborn
Vice President, Director of Climate Impact, SmithGroup and Executive Committee, Center of Excellence for Building Decarbonisation, ASHRAE
“Sustainability is a data problem and the built environment is where that problem is most urgent and most solvable. But progress requires a common foundation: shared standards, consistent measurement, and carbon embedded in design decisions from day one. That's why Autodesk is committed to supporting the standards and initiatives like CLEAR, bringing the industry together around what matters most, and make it possible to measure, compare, and improve at scale.”
Joe Speicher
Chief Sustainability Officer, Autodesk
“Being part of the CLEAR initiative reinforces Avison Young's leadership in sustainability and our commitment to industry-wide collaboration on carbon transparency. It provides an opportunity to help establish globally recognised standards for whole-life carbon reporting, supporting both our clients' net-zero ambitions and the wider decarbonisation of the built environment.”
Chris Wright
Director, Head of Sustainability & Decarbonisation, Avison Young
“We’re excited to join CLEAR as part of a collective effort to bring greater alignment to whole life carbon assessment and reporting. By aligning methodologies, improving interoperability, and accelerating knowledge sharing, CLEAR has the potential to transform fragmented approaches into trusted standards that support both industry innovation and regulatory progress.”
Rahul Grover
Associate, Buro Happold
“The CLEAR initiative is a timely and important opportunity to align carbon assessment and reporting across the built environment - and GBDI is excited to support it! Together with the CLEAR partners, we are looking forward to further developing the open building data format (OpenBDF) and advancing this global standard for easy, open exchange of building material inventory and life cycle impact data.”
Dr. Martin Röck
Executive Director, GBDI
“Decarbonisation is a global challenge for the building and construction sector. We are pleased to join the CLEAR initiative which brings together a broad range of key-stakeholders, including the construction material sector. Whole life carbon emission accounting is essential for the roll-out of breakthrough decarbonisation technologies in the cement and concrete industry. This is why we are delighted to support CLEAR in developing the know-how to enable trustful WLC accounting approaches for buildings and infrastructures.”
Christian Artelt
Principal Sustainable Construction / Technical Advocacy ESG, Heidelberg Materials
“The transition to a low-carbon, resilient built environment depends on trusted data and aligned standards. Through our involvement in the CLEAR initiative, Mace Consult is committed to helping shape a more transparent and accountable market, enabling organisations to respond confidently to growing regulatory and investor expectations. We see collaboration of this kind as critical to delivering measurable impact, moving beyond commitments to real, verifiable outcomes.”
James Low
Global Responsible Business Director, Mace Consult
“Offering the perspective of a Tier 1 contractor, we are keen to ensure the realities of project delivery are reflected in future solutions.”
James Macdonald
Decarbonisation Lead, Morgan Sindall
“Infrastructure will only decarbonise at scale when owners, engineers, and material suppliers speak the same carbon language. By joining CLEAR, ORIS commits to harmonising how whole life carbon is measured and reported across infrastructure projects, so that every stakeholder, public or private, can compare, decide, and build with confidence. This common language is what will turn individual project ambitions into comprehensive sector-wide decarbonization, at the pace the climate emergency requires us to match.”
Renaud de Montaignac
Co-Founder and COO, ORIS Materials Intelligence
“The CLEAR initiative is a timely measure that will create shared trust, inspire confidence in carbon reporting, and empower the sector to shape a resilient, low carbon future.”
Nick Maclean OBE
President, RICS
“Turner & Townsend are pleased to be involved in the RICS CLEAR initiative, championing greater transparency and consistency in carbon reporting across the built environment. CLEAR represents an important step toward improving the quality of carbon data and enabling more sustainable decision making at every stage of a project. By supporting this initiative, we’re helping drive the industry toward clearer standards, stronger accountability, and meaningful progress on net zero outcomes.”
Mark Rogers
Director and Head of Net Zero Carbon, Turner & Townsend
“WAP, a SLR company, is proud to join CLEAR and support its mission to advance the digital exchange of life cycle assessment data across the global value chain. As we continue our ambition to be the leading global provider of product sustainability solutions, we believe the market has long needed a strong, independent governance organisation to help guide collaboration and interoperability on a global scale. CLEAR represents an important missing piece, and we look forward to contributing our time, perspective, and resources to help address the next generation of voluntary and regulatory product sustainability requirements.”
William Paddock
CEO, WAP, a SLR company
“We see early signals of real estate markets adopting Whole Life Carbon approaches to manage transition risk and drive decarbonization strategies, driven by investor demand, emerging city planning requirements, and industry calling for consistent and comparable carbon assessment as a demand driver for low-carbon solutions. While these approaches will be developed and adopted nationally and regionally, based on local needs and realities, it is important to ensure consistency and comparability of assessments, as well as ease of use for widescale adoption. CLEAR will provide the blueprints and guidance to move Whole Life Carbon from early adoption to scale.”
Roland Hunziker
Director Built Environment, WBCSD
“We2Sure joined the CLEAR Coalition to support the development of consistent, reliable whole-life carbon standards that enable better decision-making across the built environment. Through our bespoke insurance and risk management solutions, we help de-risk investments and ensure that agreed carbon methodologies are delivered and maintained over time. We see CLEAR as a critical initiative in accelerating confidence, capital deployment, and the transition to a more sustainable, low-carbon economy.”
Manuela Mangiagalli
CEO, We2Sure
