El desafío del carbono
Comunidad online
Take Action

Back to all resources

Estudio de referencia CLF WBLCA v2

CLF WBLCA Benchmark Project Logo

The Carbon Leadership Forum is currently conducting a multi-year project to develop a robust and harmonized database of WBLCA benchmarks.

The Embodied Carbon Benchmark Report

Embodied Carbon Benchmarks Report

Embodied Carbon Budgets and Analysis of 292 Buildings in the US and Canada

 

Leer informe

The CLF Benchmark Explorer

The CLF Benchmark Explorer

A tool to better visualize data created by the WBLCA Benchmark Study V2, consisting of a set of customizable box and whisker plots for use in design, research, and education.

 

Access the Dashboard

CLF WBLCA Benchmark Study V2 logo

WBLCA Benchmarking Dataset

An open-access dataset of WBLCA results for 292 building projects

 

Access the Data

Read the Paper

The California Carbon Report cover

The California Carbon Report

An Analysis of the Embodied and Operational Carbon Impacts of 30 Buildings

 

Leer informe

Sobre

In 2017, the CLF published the Estudio de referencia de carbono incorporado for North American buildings. Since then, the practice of whole-building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) has grown rapidly in the AEC industry, and it has become clear that more robust and reliable benchmarks are critical for advancing work in this field. The new CLF WBLCA Benchmark Study (Version 2) is built upon research and insights from the 2017 study. The project expanded our research methodology, included more comprehensive data collection, and resulted in a high-resolution dataset of harmonized WBLCA model results and project design characteristics for nearly 300 buildings across the United States and Canada. With this data, the team analyzed the impacts of buildings, identified drivers of high and low-carbon projects, and published benchmarks for multiple applications. Outcomes from this project enable designers and decision-makers to set reliable embodied carbon targets and understand the potential for reduction throughout the design and construction processes.

This project fills a critical gap in the AEC industry and helps to enable architects, engineers, policymakers, and the entire design community to work towards realistic and measurable embodied carbon reductions at the building scale.

 Project Components

There are 3 components to this project that build on each other to ultimately deliver a more robust dataset, analysis framework, and set of benchmarks:

  1. Pilot Phase (2022 – 2023): The pilot phase set forth the development and testing of data collection processes and data analysis methods to support future work throughout the study. This phase involved conducting background research, hosting industry workshops, establishing pilot partners, and collecting pilot dataset of projects to inform the feasibility and infrastructure for future work.
  2. California Carbon Report (2023 – 2024): This project component focused on the whole-life carbon impacts of a discrete set of buildings in California and examined the relationship between embodied and operational carbon impacts over time when considering future grid decarbonization projections. It culminated in the California Carbon Report: An Analysis of the Embodied and Operational Carbon Impacts of 30 Buildings, which can be downloaded on the California Carbon Report webpage.
  3. North American Benchmarks and Database (2024-2025): Throughout 2024, the CLF collected a dataset of 200+ high-quality WBLCA models of real-world building projects with the help of over 30 firms located in North America. In the spring of 2025, the dataset was published open-access for all to use. The research team used the dataset to conduct statistical analysis on the embodied carbon impacts of buildings and provide estimates of typical, low, and high values for buildings in North America. A full list of publications from this phase, including reports, dashboards, and journal papers, can be found below.

    Project Outcomes

    A full list of outputs from this study include:

    Reports and research papers:

    Visualization dashboards:

    Other project documents:

      Data Collection Status

      CLF is currently planning the next iteration (v3) of our benchmarking project. If you would like to support, contribute to, or stay informed about the next version of this study, please fill out this expression of interest form.

      Project Updates

      Public Dataset Now Available! - March 2025

      We are thrilled to announce the release of an open-access dataset of WLBCA results from the project. The dataset encompasses highly detailed and harmonized building design characteristics, material quantities, and environmental impacts for 292 building projects across the United States and Canada. In total, the dataset represents nearly 5 million square meters of newly constructed floor area.

      The dataset aims to enable designers, owners, researchers, and policymakers to analyze and compare the impacts of buildings, set performance targets, and motivate impact reductions. We hope this catalyzes future initiatives within the field to expand the scope and scale of LCA data collection and achieve higher levels of detail and methodological harmonization to support research on sustainable design and construction practices.

      You can access the dataset aquí and read about how it was created and how to use it aquí. Enjoy!

      Curious about what’s in the dataset and how to get started? Download the Resource Spotlight to dive in!

      The California Carbon Report Webinar – July 1st, 2024

       

      The research team for the California Carbon Report recently gave a webinar about the study to share details about the methodology used, additional findings, and how this research can support the design and policy communities towards decarbonizing real-world buildings. You can view the recording below, or by following this Youtube link. For more information about this report, please visit the California Carbon Report webpage.

      Publication of The California Carbon Report – May 13, 2024

      The first report from the CLF WBLCA Benchmark Study (v2) is now available! In this study, we investigated the use of whole life carbon assessment (WLCA) through a sample of 30 new construction building projects located in the State of California that were sourced from design practitioners as part of the CLF WBLCA Benchmark Study (v2). Please visit the California Carbon Report webpage to download the full report. 

      Greenbuild 2023 Update – September 28th, 2023

      We recently had the pleasure of presenting a project update alongside Lindsey Kahler of SERA Architects and Brie McCarthy of Miller Hull at this year’s Greenbuild 2023. Our session was titled Embodied Carbon Benchmarking: the prerequisite to making meaningful impact reductions within the AEC industry, and we explored the importance of embodied carbon benchmarking and the ways in which design practitioners are engaging in similar efforts at the firm-scale. As promised to our Greenbuild audience, our slides can be downloaded here.

      Open Call for Data Contributors—May 22nd, 2023

      We are excited to announce the official launch of our open call for data contributors! Our goal is to collect at least 200 WBLCAs of real-world projects so that we can analyze the environmental impacts of buildings and provide critically needed benchmark data to designers, policymakers, and other organizations working to reduce embodied carbon. To do this will require the help of our amazing CLF network and other practitioners out in the real world conducting WBLCAs. With enough data contributors, we may be able to far exceed our goal of collecting 200 projects and build an even more robust dataset.

      Data Collection Introduction call—May 3rd, 2023

      We recently completed an informational call on the data collection methods and processes that will be used for the WBLCA Benchmark Study v2. This recording introduces the types of data that we will be seeking as well as what the process will look like for participants who are interested in contributing data to this study. It includes examples of project requirements, modeling requirements, data fields that will be collected, and brief overviews of guidance documents that will be provided. We will soon be launching surveys for practitioners to express their interest in contributing data and indicate the types and quantities of projects that may be available. Additionally, the survey will include opportunities for a wide range of practitioners to provide feedback on current WBLCA modeling practices that will help to further inform our data collection efforts.

      We are gearing up to officially launch our call for data soon. Please stay tuned for more updates!
       

      Official Launch of Phases 2-3 – March 27th, 2023

      The CLF is pleased to announce the launch of the next two phases of the CLF Benchmark Study V2. This year we will be developing the “California Total Carbon Report” (phase 2) which will focus on the whole-life carbon impacts of buildings in California, including both operational and embodied carbon emissions. Concurrently, the CLF will be gathering data and conducting stakeholder engagement to support our larger “North American Benchmark and Public Database” (phase 3) which will continue through 2024 and lead to updated embodied carbon benchmarks for North America.

      We’ve recorded a full project overview that describes the entire project and each individual effort in more detail. This 15-minute recording also outlines the ways we will be conducting stakeholder engagement in the coming weeks and future project efforts to be aware of.
       

      Pilot Phase Completion – October 2022

      The project team has recently wrapped up our initial pilot phase of the WBLCA Benchmark Study which focused on reviewing existing literature and building internal data infrastructure. During the pilot phase, we:

      • Developed a process for architecture or engineering firms to easily submit detailed Tally models, Bill of Materials, and other project information.
      • Developed infrastructure to enable robust data analysis at a building, assembly, and material scale.
      • Conducted extensive background research on WBLCA benchmarking and benchmark development in the US and Europe.
      • Tested data collection templates and reporting processes.
      • Identified stakeholders and interested parties for future participation.

      In the next phases of the project we will expand the project to:

      • Include a larger sample set of firms, projects, and WBLCA tools.
      • Build upon the work completed in the Pilot Phase.
      • Establish stakeholder working groups for technical advisory, communications, harmonization, and more.

      Agradecimientos

      The research team would like to thank the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the ClimateWorks Foundation, and the Breakthrough Energy Foundation for supporting this research project.

      Additionally, we thank this study’s participating design practitioners (data contributors) who provided substantial time and effort in recording and submitting building project data and sharing feedback with the research team. These companies included:

      ALL CONTRIBUTOR LOGOS
      CLF WBLCA Benchmark Project Logo

      The Embodied Carbon Benchmark Report

      Embodied Carbon Benchmarks Report

      Embodied Carbon Budgets and Analysis of 292 Buildings in the US and Canada

       

      Leer informe

      The CLF Benchmark Explorer

      The CLF Benchmark Explorer

      A tool to better visualize data created by the WBLCA Benchmark Study V2, consisting of a set of customizable box and whisker plots for use in design, research, and education.

       

      Access the Dashboard

      CLF WBLCA Benchmark Study V2 logo

      WBLCA Benchmarking Dataset

      An open-access dataset of WBLCA results for 292 building projects

       

      Access the Data

       

      Read the Paper

      The California Carbon Report cover

      The California Carbon Report

      An Analysis of the Embodied and Operational Carbon Impacts of 30 Buildings

       

      Leer informe

      Biblioteca de recursos

      Reclaimed and Reused: Recommended LCA Modeling Guidance to Support EPDs for Reused Construction Materials

      Material reuse is one strategy for reducing the embodied carbon of construction. While the preparation of previously used materials for reuse has an environmental impact, it avoids many of the resource extraction and manufacturing impacts of building with newly manufactured products. Given the amount of demolition and deconstruction across North America (and beyond), there is a vast potential for material reuse to expand in scale. However, barriers to material reuse scaling exist.

      DEQ Low Embodied Carbon Housing Program: Roadmap to Success

      Embodied Carbon Pathways to 2050 for the United States, a collaboration between the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), RMI, and the University of Washington (UW) Life Cycle Lab, provides an assessment of embodied carbon from US construction materials and explores pathways to align with a 1.5°C global warming limit.

      International Embodied Carbon Data Availability: A Review of Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Availability in Europe, China, and Australia

      CLF completed a landscape analysis of product-level embodied carbon data availability in regions outside North America with the goals of: (i) understanding how LCA/EPD data availability varies globally; (ii) informing where targeted initiatives are needed to increase the availability of data; and (iii) determining whether adequate EPD data exists to develop CLF Material Baselines outside North America. This report summarizes our findings and provides initial insights into what data is available to inform low-carbon procurement efforts in Australia, China, and Europe.

      The CLF Benchmark Explorer

      Emissions from the operations of buildings and infrastructure are significant, well-understood contributors to national and global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the contribution of embodied carbon—emissions associated with the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of construction materials across the life cycle of a building or asset—is neglected by comparison. Even at the global level, embodied carbon estimates are typically based on manufacturing emissions from the production of a handful of the highest-impact materials (e.g. concrete, steel, aluminum, and wood).

      Embodied Carbon Pathways to 2050 for the United States

      Embodied Carbon Pathways to 2050 for the United States, a collaboration between the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), RMI, and the University of Washington (UW) Life Cycle Lab, provides an assessment of embodied carbon from US construction materials and explores pathways to align with a 1.5°C global warming limit.

      Washington State Carbon Emissions Estimation: 2025 – 2050

      Emissions from the operations of buildings and infrastructure are significant, well-understood contributors to national and global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the contribution of embodied carbon—emissions associated with the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of construction materials across the life cycle of a building or asset—is neglected by comparison. Even at the global level, embodied carbon estimates are typically based on manufacturing emissions from the production of a handful of the highest-impact materials (e.g. concrete, steel, aluminum, and wood).

      View All

      View all policy resources in our resource library

      View