No Carbon Left Behind: Towards Traceable Biogenic Carbon in Construction Value Chains

Abstract

Biobased construction materials store atmospheric carbon, yet current life cycle assessment and environmental product declaration practices represent biogenic carbon as aggregated indicators with limited traceability across value chains. This limits transparency, attribution, and credibility of carbon-related claims. This paper explores how blockchain-enabled system principles can address these deficiencies by treating biogenic carbon as a persistent, traceable state linked to material flows. Through an exploratory mapping onto bamboo value chains, we identify how such ledger-based logic can formalize carbon continuity, prevent double counting, and support auditable life cycle transitions. The paper contributes a conceptual framework for carbon ledger approaches in construction.