{"id":13526,"date":"2023-02-01T19:51:21","date_gmt":"2023-02-01T19:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/?post_type=articles&p=13526"},"modified":"2025-01-08T14:41:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T14:41:33","slug":"why-contractors-need-to-understand-embodied-carbon","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/insulation.org\/io\/articles\/why-contractors-need-to-understand-embodied-carbon\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Contractors Need to Understand Embodied Carbon"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Carbon accounting is not required on all projects yet, but there are major incentives for early adopters.<\/p>\n

The exact language was a topic of debate at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland in late 2021, but the shared goal was clear: Halve emissions by the year 20301 <\/sup>and set the United States on a path toward decarbonization of the economy.<\/p>\n

Construction will play a large part in helping to reach these goals. Buildings make up 40% of total U.S. energy consumption,2 <\/sup>with 29% attributed to building energy use. But this expenditure is a measure of what is called operational carbon\u2014i.e., the energy used in heating, cooling, and powering buildings.<\/p>\n

Add in embodied carbon\u2014the emissions from materials extraction, production, and transport; disposal of old structures; construction equipment and activity; and maintenance over the life cycle of the structure\u2014and buildings actually account for around 50% of U.S. emissions.3<\/sup><\/p>\n

That means the projects we build today will account for part of our 2050 carbon budget. Last February, President Joe Biden announced a task force to promote the use of construction materials with lower emissions as the country works to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. With the government accounting for $650 billion a year in goods and services purchases,4 <\/sup>that represents significant purchasing power.<\/p>\n

While climate deadlines might seem far off, some contractors are prioritizing carbon mitigation in their materials, processes, and technology, which experts say can provide cost-saving measures and create a crucial competitive advantage.<\/p>\n

Engineers, designers, and contractors are particularly critical to decarbonization because they touch so many phases of the design and construction life cycle\u2014from sourcing materials to design, preconstruction, construction, and maintenance\u2014and communicate to owners and subcontractors, making them a conduit for change as well.<\/p>\n

In the years ahead, \u201cowners will look for firms that have experience with low-carbon projects, particularly when utilizing best value selection that places an emphasis on sustainability factors,\u201d says Jacob Arlein, Chief Executive Officer at Stok, an environmental company. \u201cEnvironment, sustainability, and governance (ESG) criteria and requirements are growing. It is coming from investors. You\u2019ll see an increase, with publicly traded companies conducting carbon footprint assessments. That will be a huge change. This will start with transparency, carbon reporting, then mandated reductions that will impact the carbon emissions of new projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is what lies ahead, but there is plenty of evidence that this transition is already in action.<\/p>\n

The Carbon Revolution Is Here<\/h2>\n

The World Green Building Council predicts that as the global population reaches 10 billion around 2050, the building stock will need to double.5 <\/sup>This implies a huge increase in consumption of carbon-intensive materials and the need for improved building practices.<\/p>\n

For example, cement usage could grow between 12% and 23% by 2050,6 <\/sup>and steel could increase by a third.7 <\/sup>The International Energy Agency estimates that production of cement alone accounted for 7% of global carbon emissions in 2019.8<\/sup><\/p>\n

Designers and builders will need to look for alternative materials or work with producers who can accurately show they are working to curb emissions. The Energy Transitions Commission expects recycled secondary steel to outpace primary production in the years ahead and has laid out a plan to reduce cement emissions by a quarter by 2050.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decarbonization economy is growing rapidly and expanding across almost all sectors of raw materials globally from agriculture to mining,\u201d says Shelley Goldberg, a commodities expert and Founder of Invest-with-Purpose, an environmental sustainability consultancy. She points to companies like BHP, which completed the first carbon-neutral copper transaction9 <\/sup>from its mines in Chile, together with Southwire\u2019s processing plant in the United States, thanks to blockchain-based supply chain traceability and carbon offsets.<\/p>\n

For now, carbon capture has not put pressure on commodity futures prices, suggesting that carbon-neutral initiatives will more than pay off over the medium to long term, especially with the potential for a global crunch on energy in the future. \u201cNevertheless,\u201d says Goldberg, \u201cI predict that China\u2019s decarbonization may put upward pressure on commodity prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consumption regulations are still loose in many countries, but demand for net-zero buildings is growing, driven by anticipation of stricter regulations and the adoption of pledges by private enterprises. The net-zero building market is predicted to reach $140.2 billion by 2028,10 <\/sup>according to research by Polaris Market Research.<\/p>\n

RMI, an energy policy think tank, has outlined several key benefits to reducing embodied carbon, including lowering project costs11 <\/sup>and decreasing materials use and energy consumption. With many building owners pushing their contractors to account for carbon emissions throughout the construction process, understanding best practices for sourcing, what questions to ask, and how to quantify embodied carbon will be a skill set for successful construction managers.<\/p>\n

Stepping up as Contractors<\/h2>\n

As Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and Life Cycle Assessments (LACs) continue to saturate the industry, there is a huge opportunity for contractors and engineers to develop competencies in carbon accounting.<\/p>\n

As an architect, Stacy Smedley created the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator, or EC3,12 <\/sup>an open resource available through Building Transparency, where she is Executive Director. Already she notes that private multinationals and city and state governments are implementing incentives for carbon accounting measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe messages that suppliers are getting from Microsoft, Salesforce, or Amazon are the same requirements and disclosures that they will see from a federal or state policy, which is good,\u201d Smedley says.<\/p>\n

For example, Microsoft requires all vendors to perform environmental reporting,13 <\/sup>and New York passed rules that provide bid discounts to contractors who can procure low embodied carbon concrete.14 <\/sup>These practices, and the data they provide, will
\nsaturate states where these requirements exist first, says Smedley.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have these pockets of good data,\u201d according to Smedley. \u201cBut there are big swaths of the country with lots of smaller suppliers that are engaging in this [even though] no one\u2019s asking them to and it\u2019s that larger lift.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this stage, companies need to put in place dedicated staff who can perform EPDs and LACs, estimating things such as the carbon required to transport materials from a vendor in the country or one overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a steep learning curve, but an investment in sustainability experts will pay off,\u201d says Smedley. \u201c[There is an] urgent hiring explosion in these groups of sustainability professionals to really understand how to start that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developer Hines is also generating strategies for managing embodied carbon. It created an internal guide on embodied carbon to begin educating employees on what is coming and how to manage it. It is also asking others to monitor embodied carbon and environmental protections on new projects.<\/p>\n

Understanding how to manage embodied carbon begins during preconstruction, with sourcing better materials. This includes:<\/p>\n