FURNITURE

The purpose of this section is to study the carbon emissions from some basic furniture types from the initial furniture build through the end-of-life and replacement with a like piece of furniture. The buttons below will take you to the individual furniture types included, where the materials and construction assumptions are defined and the carbon emissions are evaluated for the initial build through the replacement stage.

GENERAL INFORMATION [1]

Office furniture—including desks, chairs, sofas, and storage units—embodies significant carbon emissions. These embodied carbon emissions occur during raw material extraction, manufacturing, assembly, and transportation. Once furniture is produced, these emissions are essentially locked in.

This report consolidates data from public sector agencies, academic life cycle assessments (LCAs), and industry benchmarks to present:



Typical embodied carbon of new office furniture

Emissions savings from reuse and refurbishment

Emissions avoided through material recycling

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