From an economic perspective, knowledge- and employmentintensive manufacturing, such as in the automobile sector, has traditionally been a target for heavy government support in pursuit of the significant spin-off benefits to the economy as a whole. Furthermore, while growth in the renewable energy markets has been significant, the global market for automobiles is an order of magnitude larger. Embodied carbon is the amount of carbon emitted across some specified portion of the life cycle of a product - typically from production to disposal, or from production to the point of final sale.