We’re seeking support for two 2021 Seattle Building Code proposals that address embodied carbon in concrete and steel.
Seattle’s Construction Codes Advisory Board (CCAB) is considering the code proposals, attached, that would show the City’s commitment to GHG reduction by limiting the amount of carbon in two of the most widely used and highest carbon-emitting construction materials: concrete and steel. If passed, this will be the most impactful effort Seattle has taken to reduce embodied carbon emissions thus far.
We encourage organizations working in Seattle to show support for these proposals by adding your name to the attached Google form letter by 5 pm Pacific on 2/14/2023, which we will submit to the CCAB the following day.
We anticipate the CCAB code hearing for these proposals will be on 3/2/2023 between 12-2 pm Pacific. Hearing info can be found on the CCAB website with agendas and a call-in link posted about a week in advance. In person attendance is also available & encouraged. If you prefer to submit your own letter, you can email it to Micah Chappell at SDCI, Micah.chappell@seattle.gov, and copy Jenifer Gilliland, Jenifer.gilliland@seattle.gov. who will distribute to the CCAB. Make sure to submit at least a week prior to the hearing.
Thanks for your consideration and support. If you have any questions about the proposals or giving testimony, please reach out to Webly Bowles from New Buildings Institute at webly@newbuildings.org and Liepa Braciulyte at liepa@newbuildings.org.
Feel free to forward this on to others in your networks who you think would be interested in helping with this effort.
Seattle is to be commended for taking a lead on this topic.
Yes… ICC is not fully there yet on Embodied Carbon and are just getting into public comment period on IECC and IgCC upgrades.
This may mean that the code changes move into IECC and IgCC for the duration of next cycle (3 years).
I do not know how far they have gone with provisions for the Embodied Carbon, although it appears that ICC has been increasing energy efficiency/conservation by about 8% per cycle.
Similiar proposals were presented to IBC an voted down this year, so ICC is aware of the idea. Including embodied carbon in IECC could further delay adoption of the energy code, which is one reason that the code proposals are focused on the building code.
National codes often are hesitant to move until after a few jurisdictions adopt code language, especially for new ideas such as embodied carbon reductions, so local advocacy is important; it is even more important to make sure the code is written well and is successful, which takes a huge amount of work.
Because of issues with the state energy code, the 2021 Seattle code won’t be adopted until at least July 1, 2024:
I’d be very interested to hear from anyone more involved in the proposals to see what the barriers were in this cycle and if there are opportunities in the 2024 code cycle.
Webly Bowles at NBI spoke about this briefly at a recent CLF Seattle Hub meeting on Policy. See her portion of the talk at the link below, she talks about the Seattle proposal toward the end.