Embodied Carbon Cities Policy Toolkit
This resource library was made in partnership with C40 Cities.
Tools and Calculators
How do we measure embodied carbon? These tools and calculators help project teams find Environmental Product Declarations for low-carbon products or calculate embodied carbon in buildings by conducting life-cycle assessments.
Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3):
A free database of construction-related EPDs with comprehensive search functions and ability to build whole building models. Focuses on A1-A3 (product phase) emissions.
One-Click LCA:
A paid software package for conducting comprehensive whole building life-cycle assessments.
BEAM (Building Emissions Accounting for Materials):
A free tool based on EPD data created specifically for the low-rise residential market. Enables simple material comparisons and the creation of whole building assessments for A1–A3 (product phase) emissions.
Athena Impact Estimator:
An LCA-based software package that helps designers easily incorporate environmental information while in the early stages of a project.
tallyCAT:
The Tally Climate Action Tool is a free and open-access Revit plug-in that supports the export of material quantities from Revit to EC3 and allows synchronization between them. It is powered by the EC3 database and enables users to select materials based on project needs, assess embodied carbon reduction opportunities, and produce charts and reports from within Revit.
EPIC:
The Early Phase Integrated Carbon assessment tool provides high-level benchmarking and target-setting guidance at the earliest moments in project conceptualization to show designers and owners what is possible and guide critical decisions.
CARE:
The Carbon Avoided Retrofit Estimator tool allows users to compare the total carbon impacts of renovating an existing building versus replacing it with a new one.
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.
