It is not a marketing document. It is the closest thing the sector has to an agreed position on what is coming.
Most of the coverage has focused on structure and façade. That misses something. Several of the findings land directly on fit-out, and specifically on the products that sit at the ceiling line. This guide sets out the six that matter, and what they change about how you specify service channels.
1. Aluminium is named in CBAM, and the clock has started
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism applies from 2026 in the EU and 2027 in the UK. It places a carbon tariff on imported goods from countries with less stringent climate policies.
The report lists the carbon-intensive materials it covers. Cement. Steel. Aluminium.
It also sets out the expected consequence: developers and contractors will need to adjust procurement strategies, potentially shifting toward local suppliers or low-carbon alternatives to avoid CBAM-related costs.
For anyone specifying extruded aluminium profiles, that is a dated commercial risk, not a distant policy debate. An imported profile carries an exposure that a UK-manufactured one does not. On a long programme, that exposure sits with whoever holds the procurement risk.
2. Fit-out is inside the assessment scope
There is a persistent assumption that embodied carbon assessment stops at substructure, superstructure and façade.
The report includes a comparison of what the main UK targets and benchmarks actually cover. Internal walls, partitions and internal finishes (NRM 2.7 to 4) are included in the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard for offices, in the LETI and RIBA targets for Cat A, and in the GLA requirements for Cat A. Building services and MEP (NRM 5) are included too.
Service channels sit precisely at the junction of those two categories. They are being counted.
The report also warns against the opposite error. Limiting assessments to structure and façade may overlook other components with significant carbon impacts. Fit-out components get replaced far more often than structure does, which is exactly why they accumulate.
3. Environmental Product Declarations are becoming the entry ticket
This is the finding with the sharpest commercial edge.
The report states that EPDs certified to relevant ISO standards, with third-party verification, are critical to being able to compare the embodied carbon intensity of different products. Without one, a product cannot be assessed against another on any consistent basis.
It also documents how this is already changing procurement. Wates Group is moving supplier relationships from transactional to partnership-based, with two stated requirements: science-based targets for decarbonisation, and EPDs for transparency on product emissions. Landsec's sustainability preliminaries for contractors include requirements to meet carbon intensity thresholds, with a financial mechanism in contracts tied to hitting the upfront embodied carbon target.
The practical effect on a specification is straightforward. A supplier claim about recycled content is a statement. An EPD is evidence. As main contractor procurement tightens, the second one is what survives the process.
The report is honest about why this is difficult for smaller manufacturers. It notes that many innovative product manufacturers, particularly SMEs, cannot afford the cost of producing EPDs, and that this restricts the availability of new sustainable products. The recommendation is that EPDs need to become cheaper and faster to produce, and that funded support should be available to help SMEs obtain them.
4. Engaging the supply chain early is now an industry ask, not a preference
Summit participants specifically called for suppliers to be engaged early in the design stage, so they can prepare to meet low-carbon targets. The stated reason is to reduce the risk of rollbacks after design, caused by material procurement problems.
That is a carbon argument arriving at the same conclusion as the programme argument. Late supplier involvement produces substitutions. Substitutions produce clashes, redesign and unplanned carbon.
The report goes further and identifies the design stage as the most effective point for intervention. It cites a 2023 review of 72 European case studies in which an average 41 per cent reduction in embodied carbon also cut costs by 9 per cent against business as usual, achieved primarily through decisions made at design stage.
Once a ceiling zone is set and the trades are on site, that opportunity has gone.
5. Whole life, not upfront
The report is direct about the danger of assessing upfront carbon in isolation. Doing so can lead to shorter life outcomes, and more frequent and onerous maintenance, repair and replacement cycles, which increases emissions across the life cycle.
Put plainly: a component chosen because it looked cheap on the A1 to A5 figure, and which then needs replacing twice, is not a low-carbon component.
For service channels, three things carry the whole-life argument. Dimensional stability, so the system does not need remedial work. Demountability, so components can be removed and reused rather than cut out. Recyclability at end of life.
The report also notes that real estate investors are beginning to recognise the role of material passports in enhancing residual value, and that insurers are showing interest in assets that are more readily demountable. Aluminium extrusion performs well against all three tests, which is not something that can be said of every ceiling system.
6. The regulatory direction is set, even if the timetable is not
Three signals are worth tracking.
The Greater London Authority already mandates whole life carbon assessments for major developments through the London Plan. The report identifies this as the reason London shows higher uptake of assessment than the rest of the UK.
Part Z is a collaborative industry campaign proposing an amendment to the UK Building Regulations that would mandate whole life carbon assessments and eventually set limits on embodied carbon for major projects.
RICS Professional Standard 2023, 2nd edition, is identified as the leading whole life carbon assessment methodology. Participants called on government to state clearly that this is the expected method, and to set a timeline for compliance.
The direction is not in doubt. Only the date is.
What this changes about specifying service channels
Provenance becomes a technical requirement
Where a profile is extruded, and under what carbon regime, now affects the assessed figure and the procurement cost. UK-manufactured is no longer only a lead-time and tolerance argument.
Evidence beats assertion
Ask for the certification, not the claim. A recycled content figure without a certificate or an EPD behind it will not survive a contractor's sustainability preliminaries.
Pre-coordination is a carbon measure
A pre-coordinated system that installs as drawn removes the substitutions, offcuts and remedial work that generate unplanned carbon. The report's finding on early supply chain engagement is the same argument stated from the other direction.
Longevity counts
Specify for the life of the asset, not the tender figure. The report is explicit that partial, upfront-only thinking distorts design decisions.
Five questions to ask any channel supplier
Use these on any aluminium service channel enquiry, whether or not it is ours.
- Where are the profiles extruded, and can you evidence it?
- What is the recycled content, and is it certified by the mill?
- Do you hold an EPD for this product, or is one in progress?
- Is the system demountable and separable at end of life?
- Can you engage at design stage to fix the ceiling zone before coordination closes?
A supplier who can answer all five is a supplier who will not cause a problem at procurement stage.
How A&L Systems is positioned
A&L Systems manufactures the SEAM range of flush channels and the REVEAL range of recessed channels. Both are UK-manufactured and UK-stocked extruded profiles, made from recycled aluminium and supplied pre-coordinated to the project drawings.
That covers provenance, coordination and longevity. On evidence, we are working through the same requirement the report describes for manufacturers of our size: mill certification for recycled content, followed by a product EPD. We would rather tell you where that stands than publish a number we cannot yet substantiate.
If you are specifying service channels on a project with a whole life carbon requirement, send us the ceiling drawings and the carbon scope. We will tell you what we can evidence today and what is in progress.
Specifying on a project with a carbon requirement?
Send us the ceiling drawings and the carbon scope. We will tell you what we can evidence today.
Source: Embodied Carbon Summit 2025: Report and evidence. Written by Dr Helen Freeman, Priestley Centre for Climate Futures, University of Leeds. Sponsored by the Happold Foundation. Organised by the Institution of Structural Engineers and UK Green Building Council. Hosted by RICS. Endorsed by RIBA and CIBSE.