Understanding the integration of BIM as an enabling factor in embodied carbon (EC) assessment is becoming exponentially vital as the global climate crisis accelerates. This paper introduces a BIM-based conceptual framework to quantify the EC of a building, enabling informed design decisions early into a project's development. A comprehensive review of existing literature on EC assessment techniques was conducted to identify current gaps. Based on this review and the background theory, a conceptual framework was proposed for EC assessment within a BIM environment. The framework was developed using the design science research (DSR) approach, focusing on the first three stages: problem identification, contextualising the problem within existing body of knowledge and proposing a solution to address the problem domain. The framework lays the groundwork for the development of tools that integrate EC assessment into BIM workflows, which has the potential to provide quick assessment at the design stage where key decisions are made.