As a City, we intend to develop a policy for ranking project proposals based on sustainability criteria, including embodied carbon. Project types will vary widely, including examples such as:
New construction
Renovation/rehabilitation of a City building
A new playground installation
Office equipment replacement
We are looking for best-practice policies upon which to model ours, and the best-adapted tools to require for bidders to use in reporting embodied carbon impacts of their proposals. Can you steer us to cities that are in the forefront of this type of effort, or point us to specific model tools and/or policies?
Together with the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) and Architecture 2030, at One Click LCA we published a framework on reducing embodied carbon in cities. This framework provides guidance for cities considering policies that can deliver the highest impact within the their geopolitical contexts and regulations. The framework contains policies, proposed language, intent as well as potential impact.
There are 52 embodied carbon reduction policies, grouped into five categories:
Zoning & Land use
Building Regulations
Procurement
Waste & Circularity
Financial Policies
These are mostly concrete-oriented, but the principles are consistent. The tool of choice for reporting of embodied carbon emissions is the Type III Environmental Product Declaration. You will see it referenced in effectively every policy proposal that intends to measure and reduce embodied carbon.