As noted in the report, the general strategies for reducing embodied carbon can be lumped into one of four categories:
Build less, reuse more. Examples include performing deep-energy retrofits and rerouting materials away from the landfill. Designers can also take a protective approach to material reuse by designing for disassembly.
Build lighter. Use less material to do the same work.
Material and assembly substitution. Use biogenic or carbon-sequestering materials rather than petroleum-based products.
Low-carbon product procurement. Compare different products and select the one that contains less embodied carbon.
The framework can be simplified to include just three imperatives identified in the report: Build smart; build less; build cleaner. Such imperatives can be easily harmonized with the principles of passive buildings and will create a more efficient, durable, and healthy built environment.
The recommendations in the new report focus on seven more specific policy interventions to support those strategies, per the NRDC:
1. Establish statewide embodied carbon reduction targets. Empower state agencies and industries to address the climate challenge by adopting a statutory reduction requirement statewide.
2. Set embodied carbon reduction requirements for buildings in codes. Establish a long-term strategy for reducing embodied carbon in public and private building projects by setting three compliance pathways for reducing embodied carbon in building or zoning codes.
3. Establish embodied carbon reduction requirements for state agencies’ infrastructure projects. Leverage the large portfolio of the 12 state agencies that oversee construction by requiring them to quantify and track embodied carbon emissions, as well as implementing Envision Certification requirements across relevant state agency projects.
4. Help manufacturers and suppliers develop low-carbon construction materials. Foster the innovative low-carbon market by implementing a low-carbon product standard, establishing a test center for low-carbon concrete and asphalt mixtures, creating an embodied carbon reduction challenge at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and expanding financing and incentives available to manufacturers.
5. Incentivize the use of low-carbon construction materials. Financially support producers and users of low-carbon construction materials by providing sales tax exemptions for low-carbon materials, establishing an environmental product declaration (EPD) grant program, and expanding eligibility for the R&D Tax Credit.
6. Encourage localities to address embodied carbon. Provide resources and incentives to encourage localities to implement or pilot portions of state agency policies at the municipal or county levels.
7. Collaborate with industry to drive standardization in the marketplace. Collaborate with industry stakeholders across New York to help reduce embodied carbon by increasing capacity, addressing cost concerns, and coordinating with other efforts to minimize the duplication of efforts—saving the public money and reducing the time and monetary burden on private enterprise.
