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

Looking Ahead to Embodied Carbon Policy Action in 2022

by Meghan LewisSenior Researcher, Carbon Leadership Forum 2021 was a busy year for embodied carbon policy, and 2022 looks to be filled with even more action at the federal, state, and local...

Part 3 – Strategies to Reduce Embodied Carbon

Architects can often make large embodied carbon reductions with cost-neutral measures. A 2021 report from RMI found that case studies had embodied carbon savings of 24–46% at cost premiums of...

Part 2 – Measuring Embodied Carbon

Measuring embodied carbon is key to evaluating the highest-impact, most cost-effective solutions to reducing embodied carbon on your project. As is often said, “You can’t manage what you can’t...

Part 1 – Intro to Embodied Carbon

Embodied carbon emissions are generated by the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of construction materials used in buildings, roads, and other...

Climate Smart Forestry

Amplifying the climate benefits of the forestry sector Much of U.S. forestland is dedicated to commercial forestry— producing wood products, paper, fiber, and biofuels. Forestry and the continued...

CARE – Carbon Avoided: Retrofit Estimator

A tool for calculating and comparing the embodied, operating and avoided carbon impacts and benefits of reusing, upgrading existing buildings vs building new buildings. The core development team...

Addressing Climate Change through Façade Design

Functional Aspects of Facades and the Role of Embodied Carbon by Vaclav Hasik, Data Manager at Building Transparency Since the beginning of human civilizations, buildings and their facades have...

OwnersCAN Embodied Carbon Action Plan (ECAP)

The Owners Carbon Action Network (ownersCAN) is a group of developers, users, and managers of buildings that are dedicated to measuring and reducing the embodied carbon of their projects....

Embodied Carbon: Developing a Client Brief

The UK Green Building Council developed Embodied Carbon: Developing a Client Brief to support clients in taking first steps in their critical role in reducing embodied carbon. “We know that...

Net-zero buildings: Where do we stand?

WBSCD's report "Net-zero buildings: Where do we stand?" provides a detailed look at six whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) case studies to illustrate some of the challenges, barriers...

An inside look into how Microsoft is reducing embodied carbon

Microsoft has committed to becoming a carbon negative company by 2030. This means that reducing Scope 3 emissions, including the embodied carbon associated with construction of their buildings,...

RMI Concrete Solutions Guide

RMI’s Concrete Solutions Guide released in August 2021 provides a user-friendly overview of proven and scalable solutions to reduce concrete’s contribution to climate change. The guide highlights...

Decarbonizing construction – Guidance for investors and developers

WBSCD’s report “Decarbonizing construction – Guidance for investors and developers to reduce embodied carbon” provides targeted guidance for developers and investors to leverage their unique...

Key stages in a product’s lifecycle that consume energy and produce greenhouse gases

Buy Clean Procurement and ENERGY STAR

Governments, institutions, private organizations and construction companies are looking for ways to reduce the carbon pollution embedded in the products they purchase. Many are choosing to...

RMI: Reducing Embodied Carbon in Buildings

Low-Cost, High-Value Opportunities Report / July 2021 Authors Rebecca Esau, Matt Jungclaus, Victor Olgyay, Audrey Rempher. Authors listed alphabetically. All authors from RMI unless...

EPD Requirements in Procurement Policies

An analysis of Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) definitions in Buy Clean and other North American procurement policiesA variety of existing and proposed legislation regulating public...