Discover Resources in the Library

This Library publishes a variety of resources. By crowdsourcing and disseminating this information, we aim to accelerate learning and increase knowledge, empowering our members with information needed to advance new ideas and approaches that result in a transformed, decarbonized building industry.

How You Can Help

The success of this Resource Library is greatly enhanced when our members actively send us recommendations for inclusion.
Please help:

Step One: Post potential resources directly to our online Community
Step Two: Send or forward the information to: info@carbonleadershipforum.org

1 – Embodied Carbon 101

This resource aims to provide a high-level overview of embodied carbon -- how it is defined, its significance in the global climate crisis, and why it is an important consideration for...

2 – What is a Buy Clean Policy?

This resource provides insight into why embodied carbon is an urgent problem, how Buy Clean poses a solution, and an overview of the key policy elements. Buy Clean is a procurement policy...

2021 Material Baselines

Baseline Report | January 2021In order to set achievable targets, it is necessary to have a baseline from which to compare products within a material or product category. In January, the Carbon...

3 – Guidance on Embodied Carbon Disclosure

This resource aims to guide policymakers and procurement professionals in collecting high-quality embodied carbon data. Policies targeting the reduction of carbon emissions associated with...

4 – Steps to Develop a Buy Clean Policy

This resource provides an overview of the five basic components of Buy Clean and highlights key choices at each step. Version: December 17, 2020Buy Clean is a policy approach that aims to reduce...

5 – Guidance on Implementing Buy Clean

This document aims to provide an overview of key stakeholders and strategies for addressing the implementation challenges related to Buy Clean policy. Version: December 17, 2020Buy Clean is a...

A Weight off Your Mind: Floor Loadings and the Climate Emergency

Will Hawkins, Angus Peters and Tim Mander argue for designers to challenge overspecification and grasp the opportunity that reduced floor loads offer for low-carbon structural design. To align...

Bill Gates’ Blog: Buildings are bad for the climate. Here’s what we can do about it.

GatesNotes - October 28, 2019 Besides the traffic and the weather, we Seattleites love to talk about all the construction going on in our city. The downtown skyline is full of cranes, and it...

Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront

The World Green Building Council’s pioneering report "Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront: Coordinated action for the building and construction sector to tackle embodied carbon" demands radical...

Building Green: Equity in Design and Construction: Seven Case Studies

From an affordable multifamily building to an iconic museum, these projects are designed and built to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion. by Paula MeltonFirst published in...

Buildings & Cities: Embodied carbon in construction materials

Published in Buildings & Cities in the Special Collection: "Carbon metrics for buildings and cities" Publication date: September 2020 Authors: Brook Waldman, Monica Huang, Kathrina Simonen...

Buildings as a Solution? Exploring the Potential for Carbon-Storing Materials

Introducing a Summary Report from the Carbon Leadership Forum Authors The research team from the Carbon Leadership Forum at the University of Washington College of Built Environments: Julie...

Buy Clean Washington Study

Research Purpose: Review and evaluate embodied carbon policies to limit the embodied carbon of structural materials used in State building projects. About On January 8, 2018, members of the...

C40 Cities Clean Construction Policy Explorer

The Clean Construction Policy Explorer was first released in October 2020 by the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. This new tool provides an interactive map for exploring global city-level...

Carbon-Storing Materials

Summary Report | February 2021The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): “Limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C will require removing carbon from the atmosphere in addition to reducing...

CarbonPositive RESET! 1.5ºC Global Teach-In

The CarbonPositive RESET! 1.5ºC Global Teach-In session recordings are a free resource for architects, planners, engineers, builders, developers and policymakers interested in taking action...