1. Why We Created Whole Life Carbon Assessment Training
We in the built environment sector face a defining challenge. The buildings and infrastructure we design, construct, and maintain are responsible for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions. If we are to meet our national and global net zero targets, we cannot only look at operational efficiency; we must also measure and reduce embodied carbon — the emissions locked into the materials, processes, and lifespans of our built assets.
This is why, at Construction Carbon, we collaborated with many industry partners to produce Whole Life Carbon Assessment training. Not as an academic exercise, not as a tick-box activity, but as a practical, rigorous, and accessible pathway for every professional in our industry from those just beginning their careers to seasoned practitioners to understand, measure, and act on the carbon impact of what we build.
The training is structured in two parts. First, we launched our free Foundation Level LCA training. This programme introduces the fundamentals of carbon literacy, demystifies whole life carbon assessments, and gives participants a shared vocabulary. It is designed to be accessible, so no matter what your role, whether you’re a designer, engineer, contractor, or client, you can engage with the core principles of assessing and reducing carbon.
But we also knew the industry needed a deeper level of expertise. So we developed our second tier: the Accredited LCA Professional course. This is for those who want to go beyond awareness and become trusted experts, professionals who can conduct robust assessments, interrogate data, and make decisions with confidence and consistency.
Together, these two tiers create a pipeline: broadening understanding at the entry level, while building a network of skilled specialists who can lead the way.
2.A Timeline of Progress
Back in 2021, Construction Carbon published a white paper on the How carbon emissions from the built environment can be controlled and mitigated by a Government endorsed voluntary certification programme. That paper set out a challenge we were already observing across the industry: different methodologies, different assumptions, and different outputs, all being labelled as “WLCA.” The result was confusion, mistrust, and in some cases, inaction. Our message was clear. If assessments are inconsistent, they cannot be relied upon to inform investment, design, or policy decisions.
Then in March 22, 2022, part Z was launched, which was and is an industry initiative marking the public introduction of the proposed amendment to UK building regulations that would regulate embodied carbon emissions in buildings
That call for consistency has since been echoed and amplified across the sector. The UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (UKNZCBS) has reinforced that achieving net zero will require more than ambition; it will require consistent, reliable, and transparent carbon assessments**. Without them, clients cannot compare options, policymakers cannot regulate effectively, and practitioners cannot learn from one another.
Most recently, this was highlighted again in the AECOM report on embodied carbon, commissioned to inform government policy. Among its key recommendations was the urgent need for*structured WLCA training* The report was explicit: if the UK is to deliver on its climate commitments, then professionals across the built environment must have both the knowledge and the tools to carry out assessments that are robust, comparable, and trusted.
Taken together, these milestones, our own 2022 white paper, the UKNZCBS framework, and the AECOM report, have created a clear mandate. They all point in the same direction: that training is not optional, but essential. And that’s why we built ours with industry partners, to close the gap between ambition and ability, between policy intent and practical delivery.
3. Collaboration and Impact
Of course, training of this scale and ambition cannot be built in isolation. From the very beginning, we reached out to the wider industry, because if whole life carbon is to become a common language, it must be co-authored by the community that will use it.
We were fortunate to bring together industry-leading organisations and voices. The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), a cornerstone of professional standards in our sector, lent its expertise to ensure technical rigour. We were also extremely fortunate that Amazon sponsored the training development, bringing not only scale but also a demand for consistency across international portfolios.
And it wasn’t just the big company names. We worked with huge brains, specialists in life cycle assessment, sustainability consultants, and academics — the people who spend their days deep in the detail, ensuring that what we teach is not only practical but also grounded in the very best science and methodology. Superstar names such as Simon Sturgis, Jane Anderson, Qian Li, Leonardo Poli, Patrick Hermon, Louisa Bowles, Julia Galves, Dewi Jones, Laura Mansel-Thomas, Jason Page, Will Bury, Paridhi Goyal, Sam Wallis, Ceire Kenny, Matt Mapp and Tom Greenhill.
This collective effort has already borne fruit. Since launching the free Foundation course, more than 2,000 people have taken part. That number is more than a statistic. It represents designers rethinking material choices, engineers re-examining specifications, and clients beginning to ask sharper, more informed questions of their supply chains. It represents a ripple effect one person trained, influencing a team, shaping a project, changing an outcome.
And yet, this is only the beginning. Our ambition is not modest. We want this training to become the leading global standard in Whole Life Carbon Assessment. A standard that is agnostic of any particular software platform, because the goal is not to lock people into tools, but to empower them with knowledge, skills, and confidence that travel across borders and systems.
4.Challenges and Opportunities
So, where does this leave us?
We know the challenges as they are clearly laid out in the AECOM report: The built environment must reduce its carbon footprint, not just in operations but across the entire life cycle of what we create. We know the barriers: inconsistency, lack of skills, and a shortage of trusted practitioners. And we now know the solution is within our grasp: a common framework of *training, expertise, and shared standards**.
At Construction Carbon, we’ve taken the first steps. We’ve published the white paper, we’ve listened to the calls from UKNZCBS and AECOM, we’ve worked with industry leaders, and we’ve already trained 2,000 people. But the real impact will only come when this knowledge is embedded across every corner of the sector.
That’s where you come in.
If you have not yet taken the Foundation training, start there — it is free, accessible, and designed for you.
* If you are ready to step up, enrol in the Accredited Professional course — and join the community of practitioners leading change from the front.
* If you represent an organisation, bring your teams with you. Don’t just train one or two people — build the capacity of your whole workforce, so that every decision is informed by consistent, reliable carbon data.
* And finally, spread the word. This is not just about personal knowledge; it’s about changing culture. Every conversation you spark, every colleague you encourage, every client you challenge helps move the industry closer to a net zero future.
Finally, I will leave you with a quote from a recent participant in the accredited training:
“I think it was a great idea to bring together all the experts who contributed to the training, because they understand the challenges we face in this industry when trying to create a good WLCA report and deliver the right message.”