After passage of Assembly Bill 2446 y Assembly Bill 23, the California Air and Resources Board (CARB) was tasked with creating a comprehensive, cost-effective strategy to reduce GHG emissions in California by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality no later than 2045. California already leads with the first mandatory code requirements for reducing embodied carbon emissions currently specified in the CALGreen code. However, significant code changes—including those related to CALGreen’s embodied carbon standards—are paused due to recently adopted provisions.   In response, AIA California is exploring alternative means and methods for the performance-based Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment pathway to allow for easier and more nuanced compliance. Read more about their thoughts aquí! 

At CLF, we believe policy is an essential step in scaling the actions needed to rapidly reduce embodied carbon in construction. We are excited to feature our  Policy Tracking Map, which is a part of CLF’s Embodied Carbon Policy Toolkit. The Policy Tracking map serves as an up-to-date resource that tracks new embodied carbon policies as they spread across the United States and globally. Explore the latest global policy actions to get inspired by the current state of embodied carbon initiatives and to discover new opportunities for advancing decarbonization policy. 

Policy Tracking Map

Policy is an essential step in scaling the actions needed to rapidly reduce embodied carbon in construction. The Kit de herramientas de política de carbono incorporada de CLF offers a range of resources to help policymakers understand the current landscape of embodied carbon policy and craft effective strategies to radically reduce embodied carbon in buildings and infrastructure. 

Part of the CLF Embodied Carbon Policy Toolkit is the Policy Tracking Map, an up-to-date resource that tracks new embodied carbon policies as they spread across the United States and globally. Browse the map markers to discover current and proposed policies. For further information about any policy, click on its headline.

California has committed to reducing GHG emissions by 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2045. Tackling embodied carbon in new construction immediately is critical for ensuring that California can achieve its housing and climate goals.

Two bills have been signed to support this effort: 

• Assembly Bill 2446 (Holden), signed in September 2023, requires CARB to develop a framework for measuring and reducing the embodied carbon of building materials, with a target of a 40 percent net reduction in GHG emissions no later than the end of 2035. 
• Assembly Bill 43 (Holden), signed in October 2023, builds upon the foundation of AB2446 and provides CARB the option to utilize an embodied carbon trading system as a potential path to implement AB 2446. 

CARB must develop a comprehensive, cost-effective strategy to meet reduction targets, collaborating with energy and building standards agencies to fulfill the mandates of AB 2446.

The recommended reporting requirements for this program were posted for the October 30 workshop. As part of the broader program, CARB has proposed manufacturer reporting requirements for a select list of products made or imported into CA, as well as project reporting requirements for projects over 10,000 ft2. Providing actionable feedback on how their team can make these requirements implementable will really help with the success of this program.

To support material decarbonization policy development in California, researchers at the Center for the Built Environment (CBE) at UC Berkeley have launched a survey to gather a range of industry perspectives. This survey aims to capture the risks and barriers to decarbonizing new building construction across California. We are interested in hearing perspectives from both the demand-side and supply-side, so if you are an architect, engineer, contractor, consultant, owner, developer, material producer, manufacturer, or supplier, we want to hear from you!

The survey is anonymous and will be used to inform our research on identifying cost-effective decarbonization strategies for material consumption in new building construction. This research is intended to be used to inform future building material decarbonization policy for California, so we encourage you to share your experiences and views on the topics to help shape future climate policy.

Share this survey with your colleagues and networks, and if you have any questions about the project or would like to get involved, please contact Matt Roberts ([email protected]). You can also help by sharing the LinkedIn post to further distribute the survey.

States in the U.S. Climate Alliance continue to lead:

• Pressing Forward: Governors’ Enduring Fight for a Resilient & Sustainable Future 

New RMI resources on corporate procurement:

• Catalytic Procurement: How Corporations Can Lead the Green Commodity Transition
• Accelerating Green Commodity Transformation: Corporate Low-Carbon Procurement How-to Guide

Canadian contractors lead the way on measuring site emissions:

• Nine of Canada’s largest construction companies partnered with the Transition Accelerator to publish Growing and Greening Canadian Construction

Join RMI for the final two webinars in a three-part series, in collaboration with the Scope 3 Peer Group, to explore actionable strategies and tools for low-carbon procurement:

Join a growing movement of researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and advocates working to decarbonize the building sector.

Ways to participate:

• Join the CLF Network – Connect with 10,000+ professionals worldwide

• Participate in regional CLF hubs

• Share or submit resources and case studies

• Attend CLF-hosted events and webinars

• Advocate for embodied carbon policies in your state

Your voice strengthens the community and accelerates progress.

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• 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

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