Climate Change is trending. As people become more aware of the serious threats we face, concerned citizens and profiteers alike are offering solutions. As a result, we regularly hear about new ways to reduce our impact on the planet. From ban the bag campaigns, to electric cars and sustainable apparel, there’s no lack of options.

For buildings we face a similar landscape. As consumer demand and political action challenges us to build better for the sake of our future health and wellbeing, we’re increasingly hearing about new climate smart strategies. The problem is knowing what makes a real difference.

That’s where data comes in.

Since the early days of the Carbon Leadership Forum, our primary focus has been to drive robust data-informed research. What started out as a knowledge seeking campaign to understand the significance of embodied carbon has now evolved into a collective effort to identify impactful solutions and create systems to carry them out. Data is a crucial tool for action-- that’s why it’s a core pillar of our work.

And while data acts as a crucial beacon driving us towards a more sustainable future, we know it can always be improved. That’s why we continue researching, learning and sharing our findings (note the updated Material Baselines report further down), while simultaneously building tools and resources with what we have. With more data there are big opportunities on the horizon. We can:

• Identify optimal building designs to reduce embodied carbon.
• Drive a marketplace for materials that reduce embodied carbon.
• Inform policy makers, code developers, investors and other stakeholders on what makes the most significant impacts, and then translate that information into decision making.

Stay tuned...

CLF Building Reuse Webinar

Friday, April 16, 2021, 9-10:00 am PST

CLF works to avoid the embodied carbon emitted when we choose to tear down and replace existing buildings rather than preserve and transform them.

Join the CLF with guest speakers Larry Strain, Donald King and Kristian Kicinski to discuss building reuse. We'll address embodied vs. operational carbon for new and renovated buildings, as well as the community considerations related to these development decisions.

CLF and RMI Partner on Low-carbon Policy Recomendations for US General Services Administration

von Meghan Lewis
Senior Researcher, Carbon Leadership Forum

In February of this year, the Green Building Advisory Committee (GBAC) approved the advice letter on procurement policy recommendations to reduce embodied carbon at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). This advice letter summarizes the policy recommendations of GBAC’s Embodied Energy Task Group (EETG) on how to reduce embodied energy and embodied carbon in federal building construction and renovation. The Carbon Leadership Forum collaborated with Victor Olgyay from RMI, co-chair of the EETG, and other EETG members to develop the letter throughout 2020 and present the letter to the GBAC this January. The advice letter can be found here: Policy Recommendations for Procurement of Low Embodied Energy and Carbon Materials by Federal Agencies (PDF).

In early March 2021, the House Committee on Energy & Commerce released an update to the CLEAN Future Act. According to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, this updated version “includes significant updates to the draft released in January 2020, reflecting more than a year’s worth of feedback from stakeholders, expert testimony received in Committee hearings, and the enactment of several previous provisions into law.” With regards to industrial decarbonization, this updated version expands upon existing plans to enact a federal Buy Clean program, further supporting embodied carbon reductions at the federal level.

To learn more about the GSA Letter, CLEAN Future Act, and other relevant federal initiatives, check out the newest addition to the CLF Policy Toolkit: Verfolgung der Maßnahmen des Bundes gegen verkörperten Kohlenstoff.

Using Data to Support Designers, Owners, and Policymakers in Selecting Low-carbon Products During Procurement and Design

CLF Authors:
Stephanie Carlisle, Brook Waldman, Meghan Lewis, and Kate Simonen

The building industry has an essential role to play in tackling climate change associated with building construction and materials manufacturing. Our present understanding of the importance of embodied carbon has been enabled by rigorous quantitative modeling that tracks carbon emissions across the full life of materials and products, using life cycle assessment (LCA). In recent years, the building industry has adopted LCA as the globally accepted method for evaluating and communicating environmental impacts, and applied these methods to the study of materials, products, and assemblies. LCA data and results are essential for guiding science-based efforts to decarbonize buildings and infrastructure.

Das Carbon Leadership Forum ist Teil einer breiten Bewegung, die sich dafür einsetzt, den Kohlenstoffgehalt von Baustoffen und Produkten zu senken, indem die Hersteller dazu ermutigt werden, qualitativ hochwertige Kohlenstoffdaten zu veröffentlichen. Es ist wichtig, dass Designer, Eigentümer und politische Entscheidungsträger Zugang zu überprüften, von Dritten überprüften und veröffentlichten Daten zu Baumaterialien und Produkten haben, um Beschaffungsentscheidungen zu erleichtern, Dekarbonisierungsziele festzulegen und das Design zu informieren. Ein Instrument zur Erreichung dieses Ziels war die Erfassung und Verwendung von Umweltproduktdeklarationen (EPDs) zur Information über die Entscheidungsfindung.

The development of material baselines originated in support of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3). The EC3 Baselines were originally published in 2019. This document supersedes the baselines dated May 2020.

by Jacob Racusin
Design Studio Director und Director of Building Science and Sustainability, Neue Rahmenbedingungen

New Frameworks ist eine Genossenschaft im Besitz von Arbeitern, die sich für ein freundlicheres Gebäude einsetzt. Natürliche Materialien aus der Region wie einheimisches Hartholz, Ton und Stein mildern unseren Einfluss auf den Planeten. Unsere umweltbewussten Baupraktiken und das umfassende Design von Full-Service-Systemen machen unsere Gebäude auf der Erde zu Hause und bieten den Menschen, die sich auf sie verlassen, Komfort und Effizienz auf dem neuesten Stand der Technik.

New Frameworks is part proof-of-concept business model, part activist organization, part mini-think tank for the work of climate justice in the built environment. Our mission is to implement regenerative practices to actualize the potential of an eco-centric business in a just and equitable society; we do this through innovative education, design, building, and collaboration. Our organizational structure is modeled after a rhizome – a horizontal stem of structure and support that feeds a series of aerial bodies fed by a network of roots.