What's the Difference Between a Carbon Footprint and Embodied Carbon?
Embodied carbon is the carbon footprint of a material
If an activity involves the physical treatment or physical handling of a material (note that products are made up of materials / ingredients) then it may counted towards embodied carbon. On the other hand, activities such as electricity used to power electronics, fuel consumption in a car, and the heating & lighting of a building are not considered embodied carbon, they are instead a carbon footprint.
The maintenance of a material or product is still covered by embodied carbon and this should be accounted for in the in-use phase of the life cycle. Likewise, the end of life treatment of a material or product would be counted towards the embodied carbon emissions in the final life cycle stage.
If you are interested in further understanding the difference between a carbon footprint and embodied carbon we recommended that you look at the Inventory of Carbon and Energy database, which is a free embodied energy and carbon database for materials.
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