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Carbon Reflections

quote markAll people deserve to have healthy and inspiring places to live, work and learn. To construct the needed buildings and infrastructure AND meet global climate targets, we will need to transform how, what and when we build as well as the materials that we use. Strong intersections between efforts to decarbonize energy, decarbonize industry and decarbonize the building sector are increasingly recognized. It’s become almost impossible to read an article in any mainstream media about “green construction” without seeing heavy emphasis on the carbon footprint of the materials used in buildings and infrastructure.

— Kate Simonen, CLF Founder, CLF Impact Report

Read CLF's Impact Report
GSA Announces 150+ Projects with $2 billion in Funding for Clean Construction Materials

by Meghan Lewis (Carbon Leadership Forum), Walter Tersch (GSA), Katie Poss (Building Transparency)

In August 2022, the historic Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Section 60503 appropriated $2.15 billion of funding to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to procure substantially lower embodied carbon (LEC) construction materials for use in federal building and paving projects. This funding builds on GSA’s P100 Facilities Standards for concrete and asphalt (sections 4.8.5 and 4.8.6) and 20% whole-building embodied carbon reduction (P100 section 1.9.2.9), along with information gained through the interagency Federal Buy Clean Initiative. GSA’s new low-carbon material requirements – together with the Department of Transportation’s upcoming Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Grants Program – advances progress towards the federal sustainability goal to reach net-zero emissions procurement by 2050.

 

Read the Full Announcement
April Meeting of the Roundtable to Highlight a New Roundtable Partner: The White House Council on Environmental Quality

On April 18, Madeline Reeves, Deputy Chief Sustainability Officer, White House Council on Environmental Quality, will report on the Federal Buy Clean Initiative and the leadership role of the federal government in reducing embodied carbon.

Additional speakers include Walter Tersch and Brad Nies from the General Services Administration (GSA), who will report on GSA’s Buy Clean work.

The Federal Government is the largest purchaser in the world, with annual purchasing power of over $630 billion. To harness that procurement power while making historic investments in the nation's infrastructure, President's Biden charged his Administration through his December 2021 Federal Sustainability Plan and Executive Order 14057 to launch a Buy Clean Task Force and initiative to promote use of low-carbon, made in America construction materials. Through Buy Clean, the Federal Government is for the first time prioritizing the use of American-made, lower-carbon construction materials in Federal procurement and Federally-funded projects.

Notes and video from the January 2024 meeting of the Roundtable are posted on the CLF Community.

CLF's Embodied Carbon NGO/Government Roundtable has the following objectives:

  • Share news, strategic plans, resources, and tools related to embodied carbon.
  • Report planning and future dates for conferences, webinars, and meetings.
  • Inspire and facilitate ongoing communication and conversation among key leaders related to embodied carbon.
  • Encourage convergence on shared embodied carbon terminology, data standards, benchmarks, and targets for embodied carbon reduction.
Register for the April Roundtable
Introducing Azeezah Sultana Priyota

Research Assistant for the Carbon Leadership Forum

As an architecture undergraduate from Bangladesh, I focused primarily on functionality and aesthetic design before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the numerous lockdowns, I found myself reflecting deeply on the state of the world and how we, as architects and builders, impact nature and people’s wellbeing. I realized I felt a calling to use my design skills not just to create beautiful structures but to build a sustainable environment that uplifts communities. This led me to dedicate myself to studying climate-conscious construction methods, materials science, and innovative technologies that reduce embodied carbon emissions.

Read Azeezah's Story
The Origin of ECHO (Embodied Carbon Harmonization and Optimization Project)

Following years of collaboration amongst various individual groups, built environment industry leaders came together in March 2023 in Seattle, with recurring meetings since, to discuss a potential coalition to accelerate and strategize how to rapidly reduce embodied carbon in the built environment.

As organizations currently or imminently gathering embodied carbon data from the built environment industry, creating tools and resources, and building awareness about this critical issue, we believe that we can move faster together.

Lindsay Baker, CEO of the International Living Future Institute, tells the behind-the-scenes story of one of the most important collaborations in the history of the building industry.

Read Lindsay's Essay
Regeneration Field Institute: Building Resilience

By Beth Huggins and Cristina Valdivieso

As members of the Regeneration Field Institute (RFI) in Ecuador, we have witnessed firsthand how innovative approaches to building and agriculture can transform communities. Regeneration Field Institute (RFI) is an educational institution, training center, and agroforestry operation in the province of Manabí, Ecuador. Our projects range from disaster relief and bamboo building to regenerative agroforestry, land management and watershed restoration practices.

Construction and agriculture are major contributors to CO2 emissions and decreasing global biodiversity. Our projects in construction, agroforestry and restoration aim to reduce the carbon footprints of these two industries, one project at a time, while also providing jobs and opportunities to local communities.

Read the Story

Auswirkungen auf die Mitglieder

What is your personal motivation for addressing climate change, and what are you and your organization doing to help reduce embodied carbon emissions?

Mary Roggenbuck
Mary Roggenbuck

Building Performance Engineer, Mortenson

Read Mary's Answer
Jay Arehart
Jay Arehart

Co-Founder, Preoptima;
Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Colorado Boulder

Read Jay's Answer
David Gonzalez
David Gonzalez

LEED Green Associate and Low Carbon Materials Ambassador, DCC Solutions

Read David's Answer
Ninth Quarterly Forum: March 28th

Data and Reporting on the Embodied Carbon of MEP Systems: Progress and Opportunity

2024 is the Year of Opportunity for MEP 2040, and the first quarterly forum is a signal of what’s to come.

  • ASHRAE’s Center of Excellence for Building Decarbonization and MEP2040 recently aligned their efforts, Kent Peterson (ASHRAE Presidential Member) will be joining us to discuss our joint vision for what we hope to accomplish, upcoming ASHRAE decarbonization events, as well as progress within ASHRAE 240P.
  • One Click LCA recently released an MEP Carbon Tool and launched a collaboration opportunity with MEP 2040. Panu Pasanen (CEO and Founder, One Click) will be joining us to discuss this opportunity as well as the initial MEP embodied carbon studies performed by the Data Analysis and Reporting group.
  • With LEED v5 being announced during Greenbuild this Fall there were several whole life carbon inclusions noted, including reporting of refrigerant and its leakage, Wes Sullens (Director, LEED – US Green Building Council) will be joining us to give an update on the latest news with LEED v5.

Many decarbonization conferences taking place in 2024! The Steering Committee will preview and highlight conferences with special relevance for MEP engineers.

Register for March 28th 

About the Carbon Leadership Forum at the University of Washington

Wer wir sind

  • The Carbon Leadership Forum accelerates transformation of the building sector to radically reduce the embodied carbon in building materials and construction.
  • We pioneer research, create resources, foster cross-sector collaboration, and incubate member-led initiatives to bring embodied carbon emissions of buildings down to zero.
  • We are architects, engineers, contractors, material suppliers, building owners, and policymakers who care about the future and take bold steps to eliminate embodied carbon from buildings and infrastructure.

www.carbonleadershipforum.org

© Copyright 2023

Carbon Leadership Forum

4100 Redwood Rd #20A
Oakland, CA. 94619-5726
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