Mapping Total and Embodied Environmental Impacts in Flemish Buildings

The environmental impact and overall sustainability of buildings is commonly evaluated through life-cycle assessments. Yet, building professionals often lack a clear understanding of the magnitude and distribution of associated impacts. Therefore, this study analyses the embodied impact in particular, as the relative share of the embodied impact increases in the context of highly energy-efficient buildings. This paper draws on a dataset of 108 single-family dwellings, 10 multi-family buildings, and 8 non-residential buildings. First, the balance between embodied and operational impacts is quantified. Subsequently, the study identifies the contribution of building elements and bill-of-quantities categories, and the influence of material choices. For single-family dwellings, this is followed by a stepwise reduction analysis to demonstrate how material choices can mitigate embodied impacts. Finally, the cases are benchmarked against European thresholds. Results show that an average share of 62–72% and 47% originates from embodied emissions, for residential and non-residential buildings, respectively. Floors represent the largest contributors across all building types. The slab on grade dominates in SFHs and internal floors in multi-storey buildings. In addition, interior finishes and structures also account for significant embodied impacts. Furthermore, for single-family dwellings, informed material selection can reduce embodied impacts by up to 60%.