Actions for reducing embodied carbon at your fingertips
WHY EMBODIED CARBON?
Annually, embodied carbon is responsible for 11% of global GHG emissions and 28% of global building sector emissions. However, as we trend toward zero operational emissions, the impact of embodied emissions becomes increasingly significant. It is therefore crucial to address embodied emissions now to disrupt our current emissions trend, and because the embodied emissions of a building are locked in once the building is constructed and cannot be taken back or reduced.
AN ATTRIBUTE-BASED APPROACH
The Carbon Smart Materials Palette contains an attribute-based approach to embodied carbon reductions in the built environment. It identifies key attributes that contribute to a material’s embodied carbon impact, and offers guidelines and options for emissions reductions. The Carbon Smart Materials Palette is designed to support and complement Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), while providing highly impactful guidelines for low/no carbon material selections and specifications.