2 ProjectSight White Paper
5 Pivotal Steps to Reduce Embodied Carbon on Your Next Building Project
Contents
Executive Summary
How is our industry contributing to
Climate Change?
What is Operational Carbon?
What is Embodied Carbon?
5 Steps to Reduce Embodied Carbon
What Can General Contractors Do?
What Can I Do As An Asset Owner?
Conclusion
References
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Executive Summary
Carbon reduction is no longer a choice—it is a necessity.
While owners face significant barriers to reducing emissions,
even small steps toward carbon reduction will have a pivotal
impact around the world and could represent the tipping
point between the success and failure of climate change
mitigation efforts. Today, the building industry can lead the
global community toward net-zero carbon emissions.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) Special Report, human-induced global warming reached
approximately 1°C above pre-industrial levels in 2017
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. If this
trend continues and global temperatures rise past the 1.5°C
mark, the damage to our ecosystems and our overall quality
of life will become irreversible. The UN's 2019 report on climate
change states that in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C or
less, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be reduced
45% by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050
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. This seems like a
daunting task, but the alternative would be catastrophic to the
environment and global economy.
Beneath the lens of shareholder value, the benefits of going green are becoming clear. The rise of
ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing since 2005 has been significant. Today, ESG
investing is estimated at $20 trillion or one-fourth of all professionally managed assets
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. In addition,
some studies estimate that stocks in sustainable companies significantly outperform their non-
sustainable peers.
The UN's 2019 report on climate change states that
in order to limit global warming to 1.5°C or less,
global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be
reduced 45% by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050.
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