The Challenge: Embodied Carbon Reduction in Buildings - No CE
The Challenge: Embodied Carbon Reduction in Buildings - No CE

We know that unlike operational carbon emissions, which can be reduced over time with building energy efficiency renovations and renewable energy, embodied carbon emissions from building materials have irreversibly entered the atmosphere as soon as a building is built. That means the upfront building material choices are critically impactful. And as new construction operations become more efficient, embodied carbon impacts become even more significant. On current trajectories, Architecture 2030 estimates embodied carbon will be responsible for almost half of total new construction emissions between 2020 and 2050. Our challenge is getting more people to consider embodied carbon at all phases of the building design and construction process.
In 2023, with a goal of accelerating the consideration of embodied carbon in the built environment, The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) engaged Built Environment Plus (BE+), a non-profit driving the sustainability of the built environment, to conduct an Embodied Carbon Reduction Challenge for new construction and major renovation projects in process or recently built in Massachusetts. Over the course of a year BE+ conducted multiple trainings, held office hours, facilitated LCA user groups and a communication platform. In addition, they provided participants with free access to Tally and OneClick LCA software programs to conduct whole building life cycle assessments.
Nearly 50 companies expressed interest in the challenge with cash prizes totalling $380,000. This session will showcase the winners selected by a panel of embodied carbon experts. The judging criteria were based on the project’s replicability and cost effectiveness, reduction in embodied carbon, and innovativeness. We’ll share lessons learned from across the entrants, innovative reduction strategies and trends common between them. Lastly, we’ll focus on the Challenge’s effectiveness as a tool for accelerating the reduction of embodied carbon in the building industry and thoughts on next steps to accelerate reduction even further.