China
Opening Early Market for Low-Carbon Building Materials in China
Opening Early Market for Low-Carbon Building Materials in China…
Embodied Carbon Initiative
What Is Embodied Carbon?
Embodied carbon is the sum of all greenhouse gas emissions released during the lifecycle of materials, including extraction, manufacturing, transport, construction, and disposal. Embodied carbon emissions from buildings account for 11 percent of annual climate-warming GHG emissions globally.
Why It Matters:
Most of a building’s lifetime GHG emissions occur before anyone occupies it. Understanding the embodied carbon of building materials is crucial for designing and constructing buildings with materials that don’t cancel out the climate gains made by operational efficiency improvements in recent decades. We can ensure every building is part of the climate solution through circular and efficient design, improved material manufacturing and reuse, and policies that create market demand for low-embodied carbon and carbon-storing concrete, steel, insulation, and other materials.
What We’re Doing:
RMI’s Embodied Carbon Initiative has played an instrumental role in guiding the building industry and government agencies on measuring and reducing embodied carbon emissions in line with global climate targets. We are changing how builders build, increasing corporate investment in embodied carbon, and enacting policies to create greater transparency, demand, and adoption of high-performance materials that are cost-effective, abundant, and good for the climate.
Webinars and Videos
November 14, 2023
HomebuildersCAN: Introductory Webinar
April 14, 2023
COTE®: Embodied Carbon
February 21, 2024
Carbon-Storing Building // with Chris Magwood
RESOURCES
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Buildings
Implementing Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Standards in Urban Development
The construction and operation of buildings account for nearly 40 percent of global CO2 emissions. As the urgency of the climate challenge increases, efforts to address carbon emissions in the buildings and construction sector…
Resources
The Hidden Climate Impact of Residential Construction
Report
Transforming Existing Buildings from Climate Liabilities to Climate Assets
Report
Embodied Carbon Cities Policy Toolkit
Toolkit
Roadmap to Reaching Zero Embodied Carbon in Federal Building Projects
Report
New White House ‘Buy Clean’ Guidance Targets Huge Emissions Hidden in Building Materials
Article
Policy Opportunities to Increase Material Circularity in the Buildings Industry
Article
The Building Industry Takes Aim at “This Whole Other Chunk” of Emissions
Article
Low-Carbon Concrete in the Northeastern United States
Procurement Brief
Low-Cost, High-Value Opportunities to Reduce Embodied Carbon in Buildings
Blog
Giving America’s Infrastructure a Clean Start
Blog
Concrete Solutions Guide
Report
Reducing Embodied Carbon in Buildings
Report
The Secret Life of Materials
Blog
