Embodied carbon reduction strategies for high-rise buildings in Sri Lanka

Global warming has become a major environmental issue faced by the community and carbon emission has identified as the main contributor for it. Therefore, many researchers have paid their attention to the carbon footprint specially on operational carbon reduction and embodied carbon reduction. This research focusses on the development of strategies for embodied carbon reduction in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings. Five expert interviews have been conducted to obtain the opinions on the applicability of the global embodied reduction strategies for Sri Lankan context. Subsequently, case study analysis was carried out for selected four ongoing high-rise buildings to ascertain the carbon reduction strategies practiced in Sri Lanka. It is revealed that, efficient selection and use of low energy and low carbon materials, materials minimization, local sourcing of materials and transportation minimization, efficient construction process, reuse and recycling of carbon intensive materials are suitable strategies for Sri Lankan context.