Shelter Methodology for the Assessment of Carbon (SMAC)

The Global Shelter Cluster Environment Community of Practice, together with the BRE Trust and WWF/US, have developed the Shelter Methodology for the Assessment of Carbon (SMAC) tool to enable humanitarian operations to assess the level of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq) of shelter assistance after a disaster. Measuring CO2 eq includes not only CO2 but other gases generated in providing the assistance.

SMAC is based on a cradle-to-grave approach, encompassing material extraction, processing, transport, packaging, use and disposal, in line with industry practice. The tool uses standard environmental product declarations to define the CO2 eq for materials commonly used in humanitarian construction. While primarily focused on shelter, SMAC can also be used for schools, markets or other types of basic construction.

More background information on this tool is available here and a step-by-step guidance on how to use the tool is available here as PDF and here as PPT document.

The tool itself is available by contacting Charles Kelly as it is temporarily requiring a registration process to facilitate quality control.