8 ProjectSight White Paper
5 Pivotal Steps to Reduce Embodied Carbon on Your Next Building Project
Contractors are responsible for informing subcontractor activities and providing embodied carbon
guidelines in trade selection. In addition, they act as a source of quality control to help drive owner and
designer decisions toward carbon neutral and reduction outcomes.
According to the World Green Business Council
5
, contractors can:
1. Minimize the carbon impact of construction processes and activities by:
• Sourcing local materials to reduce transportation emissions
• Maximizing the efficient planning of machinery across projects and portfolios
• Sourcing equipment that operates on carbon-neutral biofuels or renewable energy
• Installing renewable energy onsite to be used for the construction phase and
then to be transitioned to the operational stage.
• Recycle and reuse material during renovation and demolition where possible
2. Educate and enforce trade-specific procurement requirements for low or reduced
carbon materials
3. Operate as gatekeepers for disclosure of embodied carbon data about materials
used onsite (through Environmental Product Declarations and other statements)
Technology can also play a role in transitioning business models toward embodied carbon net-zero.
Building Information Model (BIM) systems can drive efficiencies and reduce rework by informing onsite
decision-making. In addition, utilizing BIM in the closeout process to inform downstream operational
decisions such as utility location and equipment servicing to improve how we maintain assets to increase
operational life. Moving toward digital project and document management can also drive more efficient
cross-collaboration and stakeholder communication. Overall, technology adoption and a transition from
paper-based to digital workflows need to be escalated.
What Can I Do As An Asset Owner?
Building owners and developers have arguably the most critical part to play in driving our industry
towards net-zero embodied carbon. Owners can bring this issue to the forefront in the design and
decision-making process by specifying:
1. Only low carbon materials to be used
2. Designs that consider reducing carbon across the entire asset lifecycle
3. A requirement for reducing emissions during construction activities
Owners must work with design teams to take a critical look at the designs we are selecting and focus on
those that prioritize carbon reduction. For the construction phase, work with your general contractors
to incentivize reducing carbon emissions and waste. Electric machinery is no longer a futuristic dream.
Caterpillar, Bobcat, and Volvo to name a few have all introduced electric machinery in the last few years.
Electric machinery not only allows for net-zero, it can also have positive health and safety implications by
reducing workers' interactions with toxic emissions.
