Embodied Carbon Cities Policy Toolkit
This resource library was made in partnership with C40 Cities.
Pledges, Task Forces, and Professional Coalitions
National and regional groups that build capacity for embodied carbon are growing. Explore these examples from procurement, building and material reuse, architecture, engineering, and development communities.
Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP):
SPP is an international nonprofit organization for procurement professionals, academics, and practitioners, driving awareness and knowledge on responsible sourcing practices and empowering people in procurement.
SE2050:
Commitment: The mission of the SE 2050 Commitment is to 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, participating firms can more easily work toward net-zero embodied carbon structural systems by 2050.
MEP 2040:
Challenge: A data-driven commitment for MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) engineering firms to work toward total life-cycle decarbonization including both embodied and operational carbon.
Architecture 2030 Challenge:
The 2030 Challenge is widely adopted in the United States and globally by individuals, professional organizations, and governments. It has been adopted into federal, state, and local government legislation and has become standard practice in most leading A/E/C firms.
AIA 2030 Commitment:
An actionable climate strategy from the American Institute of Architects that gives us a set of standards and goals for reaching net-zero emissions in the built environment.
Architects Declare:
A commitment program for architects to create a multi-faceted approach to decarbonization, biodiversity, and positive social impact.
ownersCAN:
The Owners Carbon Action Network is a group of developers, users, and managers of buildings that are dedicated to measuring and reducing the embodied carbon of their projects. The group has been created to raise awareness and provide education on the importance of embodied carbon in the built environment, and share strategies and lessons learned to inspire others to follow.
materialsCAN:
The Materials Carbon Action Network is a sister program of ownersCAN and is comprised of members of the global building industry ready to act on the smart prioritization of embodied carbon in building materials.
The Pacific Coast Collaborative (PCC) Low-Carbon Construction Task Force:
PCC’s task force will advance low-carbon materials and methods in building and construction projects by creating a shared regional strategy to accelerate innovation, investment, and market development for low-carbon materials by leveraging the scale of the Pacific Coast’s regional economy.
Reuse Community:
Network of building professionals committed to reuse of commercial building materials.
Bay Area Deconstruction Work Group:
A group of deconstruction and reuse leaders from multiple sectors, such as government, private, and nonprofit, working together to improve existing policies and practices to advance safe building material recovery and reuse.
Please reach out to RMI and C40 Cities for other embodied carbon resources to support your city’s efforts to lead the reduction of embodied carbon in construction:
- Chris Magwood, cmagwood@rmi.org
- Cécile Faraud, cfaraud@c40.org
This resource library was inspired by a 2022 workshop series co-hosted by C40 and RMI for city officials seeking to implement embodied carbon reduction strategies. The resources included in the library were shared by the workshop attendee group and were developed the following organizations: American Institute of Architects, Architecture 2030, Architects Declare, Athena Sustainable Materials Institute, Buildings as Material Banks, Builders for Climate Action, Building Transparency, Carbon Leadership Forum, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, EHDD, Government Alliance on Race and Equity, Greenlining Institute, Mantle Developments, New Buildings Institute, OneClick LCA, Pacific Coast Collaborative, Sustainable Procurement Pledge, and the following municipalities: Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Boulder, CO; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Houston, TX; London, England; Milan, Italy; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; San Antonio, TX; Seattle, WA; Toronto, Canada; and Vancouver, Canada.