Five tech mammoths and one-floor covering creator are displaying their pledge to embodied carbon reduction by joining hands with the leading body of Building Transparency (BT). This nonprofit was shaped as of late to build up a free-to-use computerized apparatus for assessing embodied carbon in structures, known as the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3).
Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Facebook, and Microsoft, alongside veteran climate-activist Interface, are currently part of BT’s 10-members board. The first-ever virtual gathering of these top mammoths of the BT board was held on May 21st. Their essential purpose was to draw in individuals from the assembling business, constructors, proprietors, and policymakers with a mission to make an embodied carbon (EC) environment.
Launched a year ago in November at Greenbuild 2019 in Atlanta, EC3 is one of the free and open-access apparatuses, fixated on the vital database of digitized environmental product declarations (EPD). Being at the heart of the machine, EPD delivers quantified ecological data for any product, including the global warming potential from greenhouse gases emitted during manufacturing, material supply, and delivery to the final site.
Apart from adding more product categories and EPDs, BT aims to form a more comprehensive global database. At present, EPDs mostly consist of North American suppliers. Moreover, the database aids green-building certification compliance and local clean-climate policies. EC3, as of now, accompanies the channels for Buy Clean California compliance just as LEED 4.1’s low-EC development pilot credit.
Microsoft is coordinating EC3 on 3 million square feet of new development, together with 17 structures situated at its base in Redmond, Wash. Ross, the senior sustainability program manager for real estate in Microsoft, says, “We’re on track to meet our goal of 15% to 30% EC reduction. We have not needed to spend more money to use lower-carbon materials.”
According to Phil Northcott, a founder of C Change Labs and BT founding board member, there are currently 26,000 digitized EPDs in the EC3 from 789 plants in Europe and North America, owned by 293 manufacturers. Besides, there are 16 material and product categories, and more than 6,500 users. This number is foreseen to grow each week by 200 to 250.
He adds, “We recruited a board primarily consisting of committed building owners that want to use their market power to change construction.” Lisa Conway, Interface’s vice president of sustainability-Americas, states her reason for joining this board. She says it’s mostly because BT would house a collaborative she founded, by the name ‘materials Carbon Action Network.’ This network raises EC awareness among constructors and offers them with the EC-reduction training.
Looking forward, Kate Simonen, the chairman of the board of directors BT and the director of the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), sums it up. Particularly in terms of infrastructure investments, he concludes, “We don’t really know how the pandemic might affect the future, but there already is a conversation about clean climate recovery. This could be a real opportunity for action around embodied carbon.”
