A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a built space evaluates the environmental impacts across its life cycle. The lifecycle includes material sourcing, transportation, construction, operation and end-of-life stages. While LCAs for entire buildings are more common, LCAs specifically for office interiors remain relatively rare in India. Corporates leasing or renting office spaces often cannot conduct full-building LCAs. However, they still bear a responsibility to reduce embodied carbon. This need for sustainable interventions has made Tenant Improvement (TI) projects a standard practice in Europe (CLF, 2019). As workplaces prioritize sustainable design and operational efficiency, it is crucial to understand the environmental impact of interior spaces. A building’s interior LCA quantifies these impacts and shows how material and finish choices affect environmental footprints.

Monk Spaces conducted LCAs for ITC Limited‘s office interiors in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. The assessment adhered primarily to EN 15978, which establishes a protocol to quantify environmental impacts across a building’s life cycle. To ensure further comparability with international assessments, PCR 2019:14-c-PCR-029 Buildings from the International EPD System was also followed. These standards cover building environmental performance comprehensively, helping assess embodied and operational impacts according to international benchmarks.

This assessment considers life cycle stages (shown in Figure 1) from cradle-to-handover (A1-A5), use stage (B1-B7), and end-of-life (C1-C4) stage. Module D (Beyond-Life-Cycle) stage was excluded from the assessment. The assessment covered indicators such as Global Warming Potential (GWP), Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP), Acidification Potential (AP), and other categories required for c-PCR compliance.

The assessment used the Uniformat II classification to organize interior elements by function, such as partitions, flooring, ceiling finishes and furniture. This approach enabled a systematic breakdown of building components, simplifying the environmental impact evaluation. The data on materials and energy consumption were collected from ITC through a bill of quantities (BOQ), ensuring accurate input values. Secondary data for materials were sourced from the Ecoinvent database.

GWP-total (kgCO₂e/sqm) was assessed for both ITC’s Bengaluru and Hyderabad offices. Comparing the offices provided insights into the impact of material selection and interior construction practices. The estimated values for both offices were analyzed to identify key differences in embodied carbon, considering factors such as interior finishes and procurement sources. This analysis helped pinpoint opportunities for reducing emissions, making it a critical component of the overall assessment.

The hotspot analysis evaluated key contributors to emissions for both office interiors. It assessed the impact of various interior elements utilized in the construction. The results highlighted the emissions contribution of each life cycle stage, providing a detailed environmental breakdown. Key contributors among interior elements during the product stage (A1-A3) were also determined. This analysis provided a comprehensive view of the environmental footprint of ITC’s office interiors. It enabled the identification of critical emission contributors and the development of effective reduction strategies.

The assessment also evaluated ITC’s offices’ relative performance against similar projects and benchmark studies. The comparison with existing case studies and benchmark studies was conducted separately to ensure a detailed and structured evaluation. Due to a lack of Indian projects, the case studies/projects were mainly sourced from the USA, Europe, Canada, and Finland. Benchmarks included databases and studies from GIGA, the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and Ramboll. This allowed an understanding of the environmental impact of ITC’s office interiors in a broader geographical context. (Amalka, 2021; CLF, 2017, 2019; GIGA, 2022; LMN, 2019; Ragheb, 2011; Ramboll, 2024; RIBA, 2021; Rucinska, 2020).

The LCA of ITC Limited’s office interiors highlights the need for data-driven decision-making to reduce environmental impacts. The findings emphasize the role of material efficiency, procurement strategies, and energy optimization in lowering embodied and operational carbon. By integrating these insights, ITC can refine its sustainability initiatives, enhance project-specific benchmarks, and align future developments with global best practices.