THE Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched two new guides for the Whole Life Carbon Assessment (WLCA), a standard launched in November 2023, which is tipped to transform carbon measurement practices.
Launching to coincide with the ‘Buildings and Climate Forum’ in Paris, these two guides: ‘Global harmonisation framework for whole life carbon assessment’ and ‘Whole Life Carbon Assessments – a guide for clients’ are designed to facilitate understanding, endorsement, and adoption of the WLCA standard in markets across the world.
RICS president Tina Paillet FRICS, CEO and co-founder of Circotrade, said, “There is a compelling need for countries globally to adopt a harmonised approach to whole life carbon assessments; together, these documents detail how implementation of this standard can achieve this much needed consistent approach. I am proud to say that WLCA is positioned to become the world-leading standard for carbon measurement in the built environment and I’d like to thank the team involved in this project for their hard work and dedication to helping future-proof the industry.”
RICS has developed the 2nd edition of the WLCA standard to address environmental challenges and provide the industry with the tools to decarbonise the built environment. It encourages long-term thinking through whole life cycle approach to assessments.
To address the knowledge gap among decision-makers and ministers in the industry, RICS has also developed a module-based training course and formal certification in Whole Life Carbon Assessment.
