Key Takeaways
- 83 firms reported 924 projects with embodied carbon in reporting year 2021, up from 55 firms and 292 projects in 2020. This represents 4.4% of all projects reported in 2021 up from 1% in 2020.
- Projects totaling 250,439,074 gross square feet reported embodied carbon in 2021, an increase of 293.1% from 2020. In 2021, gross square footage with embodied carbon represented 6.9% of all gross square footage reported.
- For new construction projects reported in 2021, the median embodied carbon was 324.2 kgCO²e and for existing buildings the median was 106.8 kgCO²e.
- 59.6% of projects reporting embodied carbon were new construction projects and 40.3% were major renovations of existing buildings in reporting year 2021.
- 92.7% of projects reporting embodied carbon in reporting year 2021 were whole building projects and 7.2% were interior only projects.
- 123 projects that reported embodied carbon, or 13.3% of the reporting year 2021 total, included biogenic carbon in their calculations.
- A total of 924, or 4.47%, of projects included embodied carbon data in 2021, more than triple the number of projects reporting embodied carbon data in 2020.
Improve the embodied carbon of buildings
It’s clear that we need to reduce the amount of carbon our buildings emit over time through energy use—their operational carbon. But improving embodied carbon—the emissions associated with building materials —is perhaps even more urgent.
That’s because most of those emissions happen before the lights even go on, meaning we’re releasing massive quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere just by constructing a new building. Production of concrete and steel alone accounts for 11% of global carbon emissions.
With growing awareness about embodied carbon, the DDx was expanded in 2020 to allow users to track it. A total of 924, or 4.47%, of projects included embodied carbon data in 2021, more than triple the number of projects reporting embodied carbon data in 2020. Embodied carbon data was reported by 83 firms in 2021, an increase of 50.9% from 2020, and represented more than 250 million gross square feet.
How can we reduce embodied carbon? The best answer is to reuse existing buildings and materials. When new construction is unavoidable, teams can use whole-building life-cycle assessment. This type of modeling allows for the comparison of different materials and systems in order to optimize for performance and carbon.
Although your embodied carbon results don’t contribute to pEUI reduction targets, AIA encourages tracking them as part of your climate action goals. By measuring and tracking embodied carbon, you can contribute to profession-wide embodied carbon literacy and accountability.
