Rebuilt is disrupting how low carbon performance is measured, unlocking the potential for data-driven transformation at scale.
One of sustainability’s most elusive goals is how to measure and compare the embodied carbon of building materials in a way that’s accurate, credible and widely accessible.
Until now, this has been slow, expensive and highly technical – barriers that stifle innovation and block decarbonisation in one of the world’s highest-emitting sectors: manufacturing.
“We’ve treated embodied carbon as invisible or too hard to measure for too long,” says Esther Bailey, chief executive officer of Rebuilt.
“But carbon can be counted. And if it can be counted, it can be priced, and that unlocks a new kind of currency for sustainable investment.”
That’s exactly what Rebuilt’s new tool sets out to do: simplify and verify cradle-to-gate carbon data across products, turning carbon transparency into a market signal – what Bailey describes as a shadow carbon price, to drive better decisions in design, specification and supply.
Unlike environmental product declarations (EPDs), which are comprehensive but slow and costly, or spend-based accounting, which is fast but blunt and not product-specific, Rebuilt’s machine readable product carbon footprints (PCFs) isolate carbon impacts and apply a verification layer that aligns with ISO 14064-3 standards.
Carbon can be counted. And if it can be counted, it can be priced, and that unlocks a new kind of currency for sustainable investment
This opens up new opportunities for product comparison and product improvements over a baseline. It’s a system designed not just to report but to accelerate action.
“EPDs are important, but they’re rarely used to full effect,” Bailey says. “They’re expensive, complex, and updated so infrequently that they don’t reflect product innovation. That’s a huge missed opportunity.”
In contrast, Rebuilt’s approach borrows from what worked with energy performance tools like NABERS, metrics that are simple, trusted, and embedded in policy and procurement.
Bailey’s experience leading NABERS expansion, shaping Planning policy at NSW Treasury, and driving sustainability with real estate investment trusts (REITS) at City of Sydney has shaped Rebuilt’s core design: automation and simplicity, without sacrificing rigour.
It’s about democratising access to high-integrity carbon data … when it’s easy and affordable to participate, the whole system lifts.”
“It’s about democratising access to high-integrity carbon data,” she says. “When it’s easy and affordable to participate, the whole system lifts.”
Critically, PCFs are now being recognised in international regulation.
“In Europe, they’re being baked into legislation because the cost and complexity of traditional EPDs is simply too high,” Bailey explains. “Without more scalable solutions, we risk driving up compliance costs without materially reducing emissions.”
That economic risk is not trivial. Global construction is a $1.3 trillion industry, yet less than 1 per cent of products are verified for carbon. If EPDs alone were used to lift that to 20 per cent, at today’s costs, the compliance burden could run into billions, pushing up inflation and slowing progress.
“That’s the inflection point,” Bailey says. “We need carbon data to move at the speed of digital systems, not PDFs. Once that happens, we can reward low-carbon choices at every stage of the value chain.”
Rebuilt’s backers share this vision. Investors include global chief executives who have seen the boardroom conversations shifting, innovators from the manufacturing sector who have experienced first-hand the challenges of being a disruptor and Pollen Digital, known for scalable, high-integrity digital and AI infrastructure.
In recent times industry heavyweights such as Caroline Noller, founder of The Footprint Company, and Jonas Bengtsson co-founder of Edge Impact, have joined in consulting roles.
We’re at risk of losing talent and momentum to a compliance mindset, the sector needs tools that support innovation, not slow it down
The team also includes Green Star professional and life cycle analysis expert Jee Wei Tay, formerly of Arup and ADP, and Richard Griffiths, formerly of Edge Impact.
For Bailey, the mission is urgent. “We’re at risk of losing talent and momentum to a compliance mindset,” she warns. “The sector needs tools that support innovation, not slow it down.”
Rebuilt offers a way forward – technically robust, policy-aligned and commercially viable. More than a measurement tool, it’s a market infrastructure for carbon. And with it comes the potential to decarbonise manufacturing from the inside out.
