RMI’s report We Can Cut Petrochemicals Use Today: Buildings provides an overview of the use of petrochemicals in the construction and renovation of buildings in the United States and what steps can be taken to lower buildings’ embodied emissions based on petrochemical use efficiency.

Most building material efficiency efforts focus on reducing concrete and steel use; however, buildings’ walls, floors, insulation, and siding use an outsized portion of global commodity plastics and other key petrochemicals.

This report details the actions decision makers should prioritize to lower buildings’ embodied emissions due to petrochemical use and thereby mitigate health, fossil-resource, and carbon risks.