Embodied Carbon

Energy consumed over a defined lifecycle of a product allowing for source

Embodied carbon is a concept used to identify the amount of energy consumed across the lifecycle of a product or service but taking into account the original source of the energy.

For example, if two factories produce exactly the same product and consume exactly the same amount of energy in the process, they will be considered as having the same level of Embodied Energy. However, if the source of the energy for each factory is different, coal in one and solar in the other, then their level of Embodied Carbon will be considerably different.