DATASCARBON — A European Whole-Life-Carbon Data Space & Decision-Support Platform

DATASCARBON develops, demonstrates and validates a federated Building Carbon Data Space — an open, governed digital ecosystem that connects EPD registries, building information models, material-passport platforms, digital twins and certification tools through a common, standards-based carbon-data exchange layer — and a set of decision-support services built on top of it.

It rests on three technical engines and a five-layer architecture (§8), validated across three large-scale pilots with real, monitored building data. Crucially, it is a decision tool, not a repository: every output drives a procurement, renovation, compliance or investment decision.

• It connects fragmented EPD/LCI data sources into one machine-readable layer (ILCD+EPD).
• It harmonises incompatible methodologies (PCRs, EN 15804 +A1/+A2) into comparable whole-life carbon.
• It operationalises that data into services — procurement comparison, renovation optimisation, certification, product-passport readiness.
• It does NOT replace ÖKOBAUDAT, EcoPlatform or national registries; it adds the missing interoperability + decision layer.

Buildings drive ~36–40% of energy-related CO₂. As operational carbon falls under the EPBD recast, embodied carbon becomes the dominant, fastest-growing share of whole-life carbon — and the hardest to measure, verify and act on.

The specific, addressable gap is the absence of an EU-scale, harmonised, decision-ready carbon-data layer:

• EPDs are not harmonised — different Product Category Rules, two live versions of EN 15804 (+A1/+A2), many independent operators, PDF vs ILCD+EPD formats.
• EPDs stop at the product — most cover only EN 15804 modules A1–A3 (cradle-to-gate); whole-life carbon needs the building level (EN 15978, modules A–D). An EPD is an input, not the assessment.
• The data is not decision-ready — disconnected from procurement, renovation, certification and ESG workflows.

DATASCARBON closes the gap from fragmented product data → harmonised whole-life building carbon → decisions, along one chain: (1) select the best material, (2) connect the scattered databases, (3) scale to whole-building WLC.

Its defensible position is the empty quadrant: it connects (rather than replaces) existing databases and decides (rather than stores). Competing approaches either rebuild tools, duplicate databases, or remain passive data lakes.

Why this consortium wins (USP)

• The only proposal that connects + harmonises + operationalises existing EPD/LCI data into procurement decisions.
• Targets the high-emission structural materials the EU regulates first (steel, cement) — aligned to the CPR passport timeline.
• Fills a real white space: no WLC public-procurement tool yet exists for German federal/city buyers.
• Build on, don't replace — credible to registries, EPD owners and reviewers.

For the European Union (Commission level)

• Delivers the call's Expected Outcomes — more tools using digital data exchange (EO1); more accurate EU-aligned LCI (EO2); more schemes referring to GWP (EO3).
• Operationalises EU law — turns the EPBD recast (WLC), CPR Digital Product Passport (EU 2024/3110) and Level(s) from text into usable tooling.
• Strengthens the Single Market — harmonised, comparable carbon data across borders reduces fragmentation and trade friction.
• Feeds the EU data-space architecture — interoperable with the emerging Construction Data Space, Gaia-X/IDSA, and the Digital Building Logbook.
• Improves EU databases — enriched LCI datasets contributed back to ÖKOBAUDAT, INIES, ecoinvent.
• Evidence for policy — recommendations for EPBD, CPR and EU LCI governance.

For EU Member States

• A ready public-procurement tool — ministries and cities can tender low-carbon buildings on whole-life carbon (a tool most, incl. Germany, lack today).
• National regulatory compliance made practical — automated, audit-trailed GWP reporting for EPBD/national schemes.
• CPR readiness for industry — helps national steel/cement/construction-product sectors prepare for the Digital Product Passport.
• Faster, cheaper public-building decarbonisation — renovation scenarios compared on cost + carbon, validated on real monitored data.
• National EPD interoperability — connects each country's programme (IBU, IES, INIES, EPDItaly…) without forcing a rebuild.
• Skills & capacity — pilots build practitioner capability in municipalities and certifiers.

Three core engines (carried from v5)

• Carbon Data Broker — harvests, normalises and issues verifiable carbon credentials from ≥5 EU EPD registries.
• LCI Enrichment Engine — improves accuracy & regional representativeness of EU LCI for the materials that matter (HEAT, WP4 lead).
• WLC Certificate Module — maps verified building-level GWP into certification schemes with live, audit-trailed updates (HEAT co-lead, WP5).

Service portfolio (procurement-first)

• ★ Low-carbon procurement tool (central use case)
• Material comparison · Whole-life carbon building assessment
• Renovation scenario · EPD harmonisation service
• Product-passport readiness · ESG decarbonisation tool