The US Federal Government Takes the Lead on Low Embodied Carbon Buildings

The Green Building Advisory Committee’s adoption of procurement principles will drive federal action on low embodied carbon building materials and approaches through the GSA, as well as the national market.

Boulder, CO – March 1, 2021

On January 28th, the Green Building Advisory Committee (GBAC), an advisory body to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), approved a series of procurement principles to enable a shift to low embodied carbon building materials and approaches. These principles were proposed by the GBAC Embodied Energy Task Group co-chaired by RMI.

The GSA’s vast procurement power gives it a unique ability to influence markets. Over the past decade 253 million square feet of buildings were constructed for GSA, representing more than $11 billion in value. By shifting its procurement, GSA will accelerate the development of a market for low embodied carbon building materials and approaches in the United States, as a means to cut emissions in a stubborn sector.

“Addressing embodied carbon is an enormous untapped opportunity for the federal government to cost-effectively reduce its carbon footprint,” said Victor Olgyay, AIA, co-chair of the GBAC task group that produced these procurement guidelines. “These procurement guidelines are a giant step forward toward that goal.”

Specifically, the GBAC has recommended two main approaches and sent these to GSA:

1. A material approach for all projects requiring environmental product declarations for 75% of materials used (by cost or weight), and that their emissions fall in the best-performing 80 percent of global warming potential among functionally equivalent products.
2. A whole building life cycle assessment approach for larger projects (over $3 million), requiring that buildings be designed in such a way that life-cycle carbon assessment shows that the selected design results in a 20 percent carbon reduction

View the full document at www.gsa.gov.

“2021 looks to be an exciting year for federal leadership on driving emission reductions,” said Meghan C. Lewis, a senior researcher at the Carbon Leadership Forum. “The letter adopted by the GBAC is a first and important step for establishing a holistic implementation path for the GSA and other federal agencies to leverage their significant purchasing power to reduce embodied carbon in federal projects.”

In 2001 the GSA chose to use the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building rating system to meet its performance requirements for new construction and substantial renovation of federally owned facilities. This resulted in a major expansion of the LEED program and demonstrated the GSA’s enormous market leadership. The recently adopted low embodied low carbon procurement principals are anticipated to follow a similar market adoption trajectory.

“Working on the President’s climate agenda is not just exciting, rewarding and refreshing; it is clear that we need every idea and every tactic that will help reduce emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change,” said Kevin Kampschroer, director of the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings, GSA. “Considering embodied carbon is a logical step in GSA’s efforts to reduce GHG emissions. It can be a lever to change how the government constructs buildings, spur building innovation, and spark materials creativity across the building industry.”

About RMI
RMI is an independent nonprofit founded in 1982 that transforms global energy systems through market-driven solutions to align with a 1.5°C future and secure a clean, prosperous, zero-carbon future for all. We work in the world’s most critical geographies and engage businesses, policymakers, communities, and NGOs to identify and scale energy system interventions that will cut greenhouse gas emissions at least 50 percent by 2030. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Oakland, California; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.

More information on RMI can be found at https://rmi.org/our-work/buildings or follow us on Twitter @RMIBuildings.

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