Specification professionals can help significantly lower commercial and residential buildings’ GHG emissions on a property across all three scopes by:
- Reducing “operational carbon”—Addressed in Scopes 1 and 2, this is the CO2eq associated with a property’s fossil fuel energy consumption and its emissions. One may lower operational carbon by using renewable energy sources to fuel the building’s operation, by using high-efficiency electric appliances and equipment, and by incorporating energy-efficient, high-performance systems and technologies.
- Reducing “embodied carbon”—Addressed in Scope 3, this is the CO2eq associated with the production, use, and disposal of a property’s construction materials and processes. One may lower embodied carbon by selecting materials produced with renewable energy that have a long, useful life and are recycled.
According to the 2019 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction Sector published by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), buildings’ construction and operations accounted for:
- 36 percent of final energy use in 2018.
- 39 percent of energy and process-related CO2eq emissions in 2018; 11 percent of which came from manufacturing building materials and products.
The report identifies steel, cement, and glass as having the largest opportunities for carbon footprint reduction. Since 2019, these industries have taken significant steps to lower their carbon footprint.3
The Carbon Smart Materials Palette, a project providing attribute-based design and material specification guidance, states, “It is anticipated that embodied carbon will be responsible for 72 percent of the carbon emissions associated with global new construction between now and 2030.”4
Material transparency allows specifiers and building teams to make more informed decisions. Assisting with that evaluation, manufacturers can provide life cycle assessments (LCAs), environmental product declarations (EPDs), Cradle to Cradle certifications, and other documentation. Where industry average EPDs
and other data was once acceptable, product- and facility-specific data are now necessary for more accurate selection criteria and project sustainability reporting.
