EPA’s Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials Program funds research at UT-Austin

The Joint Sustainability Committee heard a presentation on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials Program at its most recent meeting on Oct. 23. The briefing was an opportunity for committee members to learn about the program, which focuses on reducing embodied carbon in the market by focusing on construction materials and is now working with the University of Texas at Austin.

Federal government procurements represent roughly 2.5 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. They spend $90 billion on IT equipment and services, are the largest consumer in the nation (spending $18 billion annually), and use renewable energy to power 8.6 percent of facility electric energy needs. “We are really excited to leverage our purchasing power for this work,” said Johanna Anderson, special adviser for implementation at the EPA.

The U.S. government is uniquely positioned to influence sustainability through its procurement activities. “We are the single largest purchaser in the world. Over $760 billion annually spent on goods and services. We manage over 350,000 buildings, 600,000 vehicles, and nearly one in every five acres of land in the United States,” said Anderson.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act directed the EPA to develop a determination for “Substantially Lower Embodied Carbon Construction Materials” for the General Services Administration and Federal Highway Administration, provide grant funding and technical assistance to increase and improve environmental product declarations (EPDs), and create a label to help purchasers identify and procure lower embodied carbon construction materials.

Embodied carbon of construction materials accounts for 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Most strategies to reduce embodied carbon of construction materials take place long before they arrive at a construction site. Because of this, the EPA’s plan specifically focuses on the product stage of construction materials, which includes the supply of raw materials, transportation to the factory and manufacturing. There is a wide range of strategies and alternative materials that can be implemented to reduce embodied carbon in the market, including energy-efficient manufacturing, salvage and reuse, U.S. and locally made materials, material efficiency, lower carbon input materials, durable materials (vs. high replacement rate), recycled content, bio-based materials, and renewable and lower carbon-intensive fuels.

The goal of the EPD grant program is to support businesses that manufacture construction materials and products to develop and verify EPDs, as well as states, Native American tribes and nonprofit organizations that will support such businesses. The University of Texas at Austin was selected to receive $3,268,757 in funding for the Fiscal Year 2023-24 program. With this funding, the university is developing supply chain emission data sets for three salvage product categories: dimensional lumber, commercial doors and waste plastic. Using these data sets, the university intends to develop product category rules (PCRs) for salvaged materials and establish a framework for robust EPDs for salvaged materials. The project also includes an open-source toolkit for computing the environmental impacts of salvaged construction products and materials.

The Label Program implementation approach was issued on Aug. 7, with the goal of fully launching in the fall of 2026. Phase one focuses on data quality improvement, phase two sets thresholds for low embodied carbon materials and phase three involves launching the EPA’s low embodied carbon labels with a public registry of products and materials. There will be a threshold setting, determined in phase two, and tiered labeling for three different levels of products based on their levels of carbon. With the public registry, “You will be able to go online and see that the concrete you are purchasing achieved the EPA label,” said Anderson.

The label program does not address what type of material should be used in a project – it is limited to “like-to-like” comparisons. Specific materials to undergo labeling include steel, asphalt, concrete and flat glass. Additional materials may be added over time.

Consumers can currently use the U.S. General Service Administration’s Sustainable Facilities Tool for Embodied Carbon Procurement, recommend the Federal Highway Administration’s Low-Carbon Transportation Materials Grants Program to the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department, and contact the EPA with questions or for direct technical assistance related to EPDs.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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