Embodied Carbon Software With the Provenance Attached
Planners, funders and clients ask for an embodied carbon figure, then they ask how it was calculated. Most tools give you the figure. XO Verde gives you the figure with its provenance: which methodology pack, which declarations, which frozen version, who approved it, and an export that cannot exist without its evidence record.
XO Verde is part of the BrieXO DESIGN bundle, which is on the roadmap. The FIELD bundle is live today.
CWCT 2022, declaring the EN 15978 modules it reports against
Assessment version 4, a submitted run, frozen at the moment it was made
A named approver, with a signature the system refused to proceed without
Embodied Carbon Assessment Software Built for the Second Question
The first question is "what is the embodied carbon of this package?" The second question, usually months later, is "how did you get that number, and who signed it off?" A figure in a spreadsheet answers the first. Only a record answers the second.
XO Verde is embodied carbon assessment software designed around the second question. Every assessment is calculated to a named methodology pack, every run is frozen as an immutable version, every approval carries a signature, and every governed export is written in the same transaction as the evidence behind it. Provenance is the product; the number is what it produces.
Three Named Methodology Packs, Not a Black Box
An embodied carbon figure is only as defensible as the method behind it. XO Verde registers three methodology packs, and each one declares the EN 15978 life-cycle modules it reports against.
CWCT 2022 for the envelope
The Centre for Window and Cladding Technology method for facades and curtain walling, with bay and panel modelling that generic whole-building tools do not attempt. Written for the people who quote and install the envelope.
IStructE v1 for structure
The Institution of Structural Engineers guidance for structural embodied carbon, registered as a pack with its own declared modules, so a frame assessment and an envelope assessment are not forced through the same arithmetic.
CIBSE TM65 for services
The CIBSE method for the embodied carbon of building services equipment, where product data is often thinner and the method has to say what it assumed. TM65 is registered as its own pack for exactly that reason.
Pack availability is governed per company
Methodology packs are enabled for each company, with lifecycle boundaries, rather than switched on globally. That is a governance decision, not a licence tier: a pack can be enabled, restricted or expired for a company without touching anyone else. It also means a pack is not automatically available to every user who has the app.
The methodologies are named and registered. BrieXO makes no claim that their arithmetic has been independently verified.
EN 15978 Reporting, by Declared Module
BS EN 15978 is the European standard for assessing the environmental performance of buildings across their life cycle. It splits that life cycle into modules, from raw material supply (A1) through construction (A5), use (B) and end of life (C), with module D for benefits beyond the system boundary.
Every XO Verde methodology pack declares which EN 15978 modules it covers, and the report is driven by that declaration. A CWCT 2022 envelope assessment reports the modules CWCT 2022 says it reports, no more and no less. When a client asks "does this include A5?", the pack has already answered.
- Reports are generated against the modules the pack declares
- Module coverage is visible, so scope is not left to be inferred
- A portfolio view brings assessments together across projects
Illustrative. Each methodology pack declares its own module coverage, and the report follows the declaration.
Approvals That Carry a Name, Versions That Do Not Move
Two things the code does that a spreadsheet cannot: it refuses to record an approval without a signature, and it freezes every run so the version you approved is the version you can show.
Signed approvals, refused without one
An assessor submits an envelope assessment. The approver reviews it and approves. The system will not store that approval without an actor signature. Not a warning, a refusal. The same applies to a rejection.
Months later, when the figure is questioned, the record shows who approved it, against which frozen version, and which evidence sources it rested on.
Immutable assessment versions
Every run and every save creates an immutable assessment version, marked with its kind (a run or a save) and its source (draft or submitted). Two versions can be compared side by side.
The number you quoted at tender is still there at handover, unchanged, with the inputs it was calculated from. Nothing moves underneath you.
"The version you approved is the version you can show."
Exports That Cannot Outrun Their Evidence
A carbon report handed to a client should be able to say where every input came from. XO Verde makes that structural rather than procedural.
Governed exports
A governed export writes its evidence record inside the same database transaction as the export artifact itself. If writing the evidence fails, the artifact is rolled back. There is no such thing here as a successful export with no evidence behind it, because the two cannot be separated.
EPD management and openEPD import
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are the product-level data most assessments rest on. XO Verde ingests them in idempotent, company-scoped steps: upload or import from the openEPD registry, analyse, then apply. Repeating a step does not duplicate the declaration, and one company's EPDs are never visible to another.
Carbon where the work is
XO Verde bridges to XO Spatial, XO Products and XO Chain, so an assessment sits against the real project, the real product records and the real supply chain rather than in a carbon tool that lives outside the delivery system.
An emergency containment mode
The app carries a containment mode that, when switched on, restricts it to platform operators and audits every denial. It exists as a safety control for incident response. It is not the normal operating state, and this page does not claim it is active.
Capability boundary (current)
What this page states
- - Three registered methodology packs (CWCT 2022, IStructE v1, CIBSE TM65), each declaring its EN 15978 modules
- - Approvals and rejections require an actor signature and are refused without one
- - Every run or save is an immutable assessment version
- - A governed export cannot succeed without its evidence record
- - EPD ingestion is idempotent and scoped to your company
Not claimed on this page
- - That the methodology arithmetic has been independently verified
- - A complete or audit-class audit trail: approval and rejection are the decision events; the rest are system events
- - That a pack is available to every user with the app: enablement is per company, with lifecycle boundaries
- - Any figure for assessments produced, tonnes assessed or customers
- - That XO Verde is purchasable today: it ships in the DESIGN bundle, which is on the roadmap
Last capability review: 10 Sep 2026, against the XO Verde claims register.
Embodied Carbon Software: Questions We Get Asked
Straight answers, including the ones that are not a yes.
Which embodied carbon methodologies does XO Verde support?
Three registered methodology packs: CWCT 2022 for the building envelope, IStructE v1 for structure, and CIBSE TM65 for building services. Each pack declares the EN 15978 modules it reports against, and reports are generated from that declaration.
Does XO Verde report to EN 15978?
Yes. EN 15978 reporting is driven by the modules each methodology pack declares. A pack reports the life-cycle modules it says it covers, so module scope is explicit rather than inferred.
Can an approval be recorded without a signature?
No. Approvals and rejections require an actor signature, and the system refuses to record either without one. This is enforced in the code, not by procedure.
What happens to an assessment after it is approved? Can the number change?
Every run and every save creates an immutable assessment version, marked as a run or a save and as draft or submitted. The approved version stays as it was. Two versions can be compared, and later runs create new versions rather than overwriting old ones.
Can an export be produced without its evidence?
No. A governed export writes its evidence record inside the same transaction as the export artifact. If the evidence record fails to write, the export is rolled back, so a successful export always has one.
How are Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) handled?
EPDs can be uploaded or imported from openEPD, then analysed and applied. Each step is idempotent, so repeating it does not duplicate the declaration, and all EPD data is scoped to your company.
Are the carbon calculations independently verified?
No such claim is made. The methodology packs are named and registered, and reports follow their declared modules. BrieXO has not had the arithmetic of the packs independently verified and does not present the output as certified.
Is XO Verde available today?
XO Verde is part of the BrieXO DESIGN bundle, which is on the roadmap. The FIELD bundle, including XO Field, XO Capture, XO Comp, XO Prog and XO Time, is live today. Register interest and we will tell you when DESIGN is available.
Go Deeper on Carbon
The method, the regulation and the evidence behind it.
Carbon assessment implementation guide
How to set up an embodied carbon assessment that survives being challenged: scope, method, data and sign-off.
Golden thread and sustainability
Why carbon evidence belongs in the same record as the safety evidence, and how the two demands overlap.
Façade & envelope contractors
The CWCT 2022 pack was written for the envelope. See how façade teams run BrieXO, including the CWCT testing evidence guide.
Ready to Defend the Number?
XO Verde ships in the BrieXO DESIGN bundle. Register interest and be first to see a methodology pack, a signed approval and an export that carries its evidence.
Capability described on this page is checked against the XO Verde claims register. The DESIGN bundle is on the roadmap; roadmap items are direction, not commitments.