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Buildings worldwide contribute to around one third of carbon emissions. With the rapid urbanization process, high-rise buildings are almost the norm in high-density cities. Prefabrication will help not only reduce the carbon footprint of materials and products, but improve the efficiency of construction processes and quality of constructed facilities which should lead to substantial carbon reductions over the life cycle of the building. However, there is no consistent method of estimating life cycle carbon emissions from prefabricated buildings. The aim of this paper is to examine the implications of prefabrication for high-rise buildings’ life cycle carbon emissions (LCCa) in high-density urban environment. The research was carried out through the combination of a critical literature review, a systems survey of previous studies, and a case study with a typical high-rise building in Hong Kong. The review results suggest that …