Evidence Domain

Carbon Management

What it studies

The measurement and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions: carbon accounting across scopes, operational versus embodied carbon, energy performance, circularity and the decarbonisation pathways applicable to buildings and organisational operations.

Why it matters

Buildings are a major emissions source, and workplace strategy makes carbon decisions constantly, often without noticing: portfolio size sets operational carbon, fit-out cycles drive embodied carbon (the refurbishment churn is a carbon event, not just a cost event), presence policy redistributes emissions between office and commute and home. Regulation and net-zero commitments have converted these from virtue questions into constraint arithmetic.

Questions it answers
  • What is the carbon consequence of each scenario — operational, embodied, and displaced to commute and home?
  • Where does the fit-out and furniture cycle sit in the carbon account, and what does circularity change?
  • How do reduction, densification and presence choices trade carbon against experience and connection?
  • Which carbon claims are accounted, and which are asserted?
Evidence sources
  • Carbon accounting standards (GHG Protocol scopes) and building-sector pathways
  • Energy and emissions data from the portfolio's own operation
  • Embodied carbon research and circular fit-out evidence (a developing field)
  • Commute and displacement analysis — the system boundary question hybrid work forces
Design and policy implications

Scenario comparison carrying carbon dimensions alongside financial ones; embodied carbon governing fit-out specification and churn cadence; the displacement question answered honestly — office reduction that transfers emissions to commutes and home heating is redistribution, not reduction, and the system boundary determines the claim; circularity built into the Kit's procurement logic.

Related methods
Common misuse

Boundary gaming: carbon savings claimed at the building meter while the emissions moved to unmeasured commutes and home offices. The hybrid-era carbon accounting literature is explicit that the system boundary decides the answer — claims that don't state their boundary aren't claims.

Further research

Whole-system carbon accounting for hybrid work — office, home, commute, digital infrastructure — is methodologically young; current estimates diverge widely on boundary and assumption choices.