Building Transparency: Tackling Carbon Emissions/

The building and construction sector is responsible for nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, making it critical for the industry to address its carbon footprint. The architecture and design community at large are beginning to understand, evaluate, and select low-carbon options in the fight against global warming.

Building Transparency, a Washington State 501c(3) nonprofit, is here to help. Its core mission is to provide the open-access data and tools necessary to enable broad and swift action across the building industry in addressing embodied carbon’s role in climate change. Building Transparency is the result of nearly 50 industry partners coming together to develop the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3), a free, easy-to use-tool that allows benchmarking assessment and reductions in embodied carbon per material category, including concrete.