Methodology
Lifecycle scope
The life-cycle boundary follows the DIN EN 15978 framework. The environmental performance indicator GWPA–C covers:
| Module | Stage | Description |
|---|---|---|
| A1–A3 | Product stage | Raw material supply, transport, and manufacturing of construction components |
| B4 | Replacement | Periodic replacement of components over the building service life |
| C3–C4 | End of life | Waste processing and disposal |
Modules A4–A5 (construction process), B1–B3 (use-phase maintenance), B5–B7 (refurbishment, operational energy and water), and C1–C2 (deconstruction, transport to waste processing) are excluded due to data availability constraints.
Functional unit
The functional unit is kg CO₂e per m² Net Floor Area (NFA) per year, annualized over a reference service life of T = 50 years. Per-capita emissions are derived by normalizing spatially aggregated GWP by the resident population of each region.
Data sources
| Dataset | Role | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| ETHOS.BUILDA | Building geometries and attributes for ~19.4M German residential records (footprint, height, NFA, construction year, roof shape, size class, refurbishment state, TABULA classification) | Dabrock et al. (2024) |
| Meier-Dotzler | Component-level GWP intensities (gwpA–C) for 900+ German-specific building assemblies, differentiated by component type, building age class, and refurbishment state | Meier-Dotzler (2023) |
| TABULA | Residential building typology providing classification logic and reference geometries used to harmonise ETHOS.BUILDA and Meier-Dotzler | EPISCOPE/TABULA |
Sample coverage
We restrict the sample to the federal states for which ETHOS.BUILDA provides LOD2 building-model coverage, yielding 15,029,971 buildings across 10 of the 16 German federal states — approximately 77% of the residential stock and 74% of the population. The six remaining states are shown in gray on the interactive map. See Section C of the supplementary material of the accompanying paper for the detailed coverage rationale.
Building stratification
Every building is assigned a class key combining size class, building age class (BAC), and refurbishment state:
- Size class: Single-family House (SFH), Terraced House (TH), Multi-family House (MFH), Apartment Block (AB).
- Building age class (BAC): 11 classes (BAC1–BAC11) following the TABULA logic, spanning pre-1919 through post-2015.
- Refurbishment state: Old Building (OB), Refurbished Building (RB), or New Construction (NC).
Citation
Kaufmann, V. & Zhu, B. (forthcoming). Resolving the Embodied Carbon of Germany's Residential Building Stock at the individual Building Scale. Working paper, Technical University of Munich.