DEFRA’s evidence and innovation strategy considers some of the ‘embedded' environmental impacts of the international supply chains that feed UK consumption. Research projects relevant to embodied carbon emissions include:
Support for a British Standards Institute project to develop a publicly accessible specification for embedded greenhouse gas emissions of products and services.
The development of an embedded carbon emissions indicator to enable more accurate measurement of embedded carbon emissions in supply chains outside the UK. This is based on a multi-regional model that, in the first instance, divides the world into three regions (OECD-Europe, other OECD and non-OECD countries) enabling a more accurate estimation of carbon dioxide emissions embedded UK trade than previously possible. To date, UK emissions factors for this data have been used but do not give an accurate result, as the impacts can vary depending on the sources of energy used in the producing country. This model will enable a more accurate representation of the emission, albeit not specifically for Chinese energy sources.