Embodied residential building carbon emissions reduction in Nepal using linear optimization modeling

Abstract

The study of embodied residential carbon emissions has attracted significant attention in sustainability research amidst growing awareness of climate change. As Nepal experiences economic growth and urbanization, urban areas are witnessing a significant surge in carbon emissions, in contrast to past decades. Despite national level initiatives aimed at achieving net zero emissions by 2045, there is a noticeable gap in actionable approaches at provincial, ecological, and city levels regarding the tracking and mitigation of carbon emissions. This research combines building component data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) of Nepal and emissions data from literature in order to model three distinct emissions forecasting scenarios: (1) the current optimized, (2) a 50 % reduction emissions, and (3) a 75 % reduction in emissions. Based on these estimations, Bagmati province is found to exhibit the highest levels of embodied emissions, while Karnali province is found to have the lowest emissions. This can aid in the formulation of region-specific policy frameworks aimed at reducing emissions in high-emission areas. Additionally, the study highlights that urban emissions outweigh rural emissions by a factor of more than two, suggesting a need for policymakers to concentrate their efforts on urban areas.