Resumen de Setting carbon targets: an introduction to the proposed SCORS rating scheme

Will Arnold, Mike Cook, Duncan Cox, Orlando Gibbons, John Orr

• The Institution has recently published a guide on How to calculate embodied carbon1 . The guide (free in PDF format) enables a structural engineer to estimate how much embodied carbon is present in their design, at any stage in the design process. For many, the publication of this method has raised the question of what a ‘good’ fi gure for that carbon footprint might be.

  In this article, the authors propose the use of a Structural Carbon Rating Scheme (SCORS) that has been informed by project carbon data, and that can be used to compare high-carbon and low-carbon design decisions and options. We compare SCORS to targets set by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and discuss how the reader might set their own targets.

  The article highlights the need to adopt (and hold ourselves to) low targets that are periodically updated and that tend towards zero, starting immediately.