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SE 2050 Data Analysis and Findings Report Published

“The mission of the SE 2050 Commitment is to support the SE 2050 Challenge and transform the practice of structural engineering in a way that is holistic, firm-wide, project based, and data-driven. By prioritizing reduction of embodied carbon, through the use of less and/or less impactful structural materials, participating firms can more easily work toward net zero embodied carbon structural systems by 2050.”

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After several years of collecting embodied carbon data from SE 2050 Signatory firms, the SE 2050 Commitment Program has announced the publication of its first analysis and findings report based on this data. The study and report were completed and overseen by members of the SE 2050 Committee making up the internal Data Science Team and peer-reviewed by an external panel. The complete inaugural report, titled SE 2050 Commitment Program 2023 Data Analysis and Findings Report, is currently being prepared for publication by ASCE Publications. While the full report will be available for purchase as an ebook through the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Executive Summary will be free for everyone to download.

SE 2050 stands for the Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment Program, which is in response to the SE 2050 Challenge issued in 2019 by the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF). The SE 2050 Commitment Program was developed by the Sustainability Committee of the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the ASCE. This comprehensive program was designed to ensure substantive embodied carbon reductions in the design and construction of structural systems by the collective structural engineering profession.

The SE 2050 Commitment Program was developed in response to the SE 2050 Challenge, which states:

Tutti gli ingegneri strutturali dovranno comprendere, ridurre e infine eliminare il carbonio incorporato nei loro progetti entro il 2050.

In December 2019 the SEI Board of Governors endorsed the vision of the SE 2050 Challenge by stating:

We, the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), support the vision and ambition of the SE 2050 Challenge. We, as a leading structural engineering organization in the United States, recognize the need for coordinated action across our profession to achieve the globally stated goal of net zero carbon by 2050.

Executive Summary (preprint)

SE 2050 Data Analysis and Findings Report

Citation for Executive Summary

Fang, Demi, Mel Chafart, Martín Torres, and Jonathan Broyles. “Executive Summary of the SE 2050 Commitment Program 2023 Data Analysis and Findings Report.” Edited by Lauren Wingo, Zachary Chabot, and Eric Borchers. SE 2050, in press with the American Society of Civil Engineers ASCE. https://se2050.org/resources-overview/tools-and-data/data-analysis-reports/.

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Libreria di risorse

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).

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