This October, the state's new sustainable buildings policy will require architects and developers in New South Wales to start measuring embodied carbon in their designs as Australia moves towards a low-carbon environment. Philip Oldfield , Associate Professor and Head of the School of the Built Environment at UNSW's Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, explains the dilemma faced by professionals working in the built environment. " Every square meter we build has a carbon footprint that can be quite high because the materials we build buildings on are very carbon rich. But we can't just stop building. We have a social responsibility to provide people around the world with healthy, comfortable, safe and sustainable places to live, work and play," he says. " So the key question for people working in the built environment is: how can we build and at the same time ensure that new construction has as little impact on the environment as possible?