ICE Database - Frequently Asked Questions

The ICE Database Educational is an educational resource, containing the embodied carbon data for a wide range of different materials, from concrete, plastics, metals and much more.

The ICE Database originally contained embodied energy and embodied carbon factors. However, since 2019, embodied energy factors have been excluded. The data in the wider literature, on which the ICE Database relies, generally no longer reports the embodied energy of construction products. Instead, embodied carbon has become the main metric.

You can access the ICE Database Educational directly via the ICE Database page.

Yes, the ICE Database Educational remains a free resource.

Educational purposes include learning, teaching, student exercises, educational presentations, free training courses, paid training courses, and viewing and browsing (covered under learning).

Attribution must be given to Circular Ecology, and a link to the official download page must be included.

Please refer to the Terms & Conditions of Use for more information.

No. The ICE Database Educational is strictly for educational purposes only, and no commercial use of the database or its derivatives is permitted.

Users wishing to utilise embodied carbon data in their projects, software, APIs, tools, calculators, etc., will be required to purchase a licence to use the new IC+ database.

All users of the ICE Database must give full attribution to the ICE Database and its authors: Circular Ecology Ltd. 

A link to the official ICE Database landing page must be included to ensure others can access the latest version. 

No. Distribution of the ICE Database – in whole, or in part – is not permitted.

The ICE Database is a material-focused database that draws mainly from Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and high-quality Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). Therefore, the background data does contain individual product data (from specific manufacturers), but the published ICE Database is more generic data, so not brand-specific.  

The ICE Database sources data from a variety of online, freely accessible Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) repositories such as the BECD Database. We also use sector-average EPDs in some cases and high-quality Life Cycle Assessments.

Circular Ecology periodically updates the ICE Database as new data and resources become available. However, maintaining and updating the dataset requires significant resources, and securing funding for this work has always been a challenge. 

In recent years, we’ve explored several approaches to sustain the ICE Database. That includes voluntary contributions from its users, and the Scaling Carbon Reductions Initiative (SCRI), which reinvests a portion of revenue from training courses, tree planting activities, and carbon offset projects into maintaining free public resources. 

To help strengthen this long-term, we are introducing the IC+ database – a paid-for licensed tool for commercial purposes. Proceeds are reinvested directly into the research, verification, and update work required to maintain the quality and credibility of these databases.

To date, the ICE Database has been downloaded by well over 100,000 professionals globally and is referenced in countless reports, journals, books, lectures, and carbon footprint calculators.

Stay informed on future ICE Database developments by subscribing to our mailing list here, following us on LinkedIn, or checking our News & Updates page for announcements, updates, and upcoming webinars.

We often run webinars alongside our ICE Database developments that discuss upcoming changes to the database. You can view an example of this for a v4.0 update here.