Carbon Reduction Potential at Each Stage of Construction

The best way to lower a building’s carbon footprint is to prevent it from being built in the first place. By exploring alternatives like renovation or remodeling, building nothing is the most effective way to reduce carbon emissions. Of course, that’s not always an option. The design process offers many opportunities to reduce a building’s carbon footprint. Approaches that minimize new material, prioritize low-carbon materials, and favor low-carbon construction techniques can have a drastic impact, according to the World Green Building Council. Once the building is constructed, options to reduce a building's carbon footprint are limited to the marginal changes possible through building management.

That’s why experts recommend taking a holistic approach to new construction, thinking of carbon reduction efforts at every stage, throughout the building’s entire life cycle. In addition to prioritizing low-carbon construction techniques, many architecture and design firms now have teams that specialize in environmental design and sustainability. Such firms factor in efficient energy and infrastructure systems from the ground up, wiring buildings to automatically regulate their own energy usage as needed.

With a top-down approach to new construction and building management, net zero embodied carbon buildings are no longer science fiction.

Read the full report: https://www.worldgbc.org/embodied-carbon