New Zealand’s building sector is set to gain a centralised resource for construction material emissions. The recently launched online database offers what backers describe as a “single source of truth.”
The National Embodied Carbon Repository (NECO2) went live on Wednesday. The tool was developed through a partnership between the Building Research Association of NZ (BRANZ) and Construction Information Limited (CIL), with support from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
BRANZ says buildings account for about one-fifth of the country’s total carbon footprint. When used with carbon calculators, NECO2 could halve those emissions.
BRANZ general manager of research Mark Jones said the project grew from earlier attempts to collect environmental product data. “What we found was that it wasn’t really a level playing field and people were using whatever data they could to support their green [claims].”
The new database ranks products from A to D based on the quality of available information. Example: Gib Aquiline 10mm plasterboard holds an A rating, while a concrete listing receives a C.
Russell Turner, chief executive of CIL, said much of the information architects and builders relied on was sourced overseas and often mismatched with local practices. “The reason we’re doing this is because our customers are coming to us asking for this sort of information – and for information which is standardised for NZ.”
CIL, trading as Masterspec, is jointly owned by the Registered Master Builders Association and the New Zealand Institute of Architects. It manages the system, while BRANZ checks the accuracy of the data before it is published.
Turner added that government officials wanted consistent information available nationwide. “They want everyone in the country to be using the same data set, not gaming it by using different data sets that talk up or talk down certain things.”
Ewan Brown, director at Tennent + Brown Architects, said: “The fantastic thing is, it’s a single source of truth that ultimately every other tool in NZ can use as the data source.”
Emily Newmarch, sustainability lead at Warren and Mahoney, highlighted the practical benefits.
“What’s nice about it is it [has] a material comparison function. It means you don’t need to do a full life cycle assessment to be able to make a good decision on reducing emissions from a project.”