US Government Focuses on Embodied Carbon to Reduce Emissions

President Biden signed Executive Order 14057 in December 2021. Among the novel aspects of “Executive Order on Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability” is the establishment of a Buy Clean Task Force. This task force will recommend ways to reduce carbon emissions associated with the construction phases for federal buildings, an important new development to reducing carbon emissions.

Operational Carbon vs. Embodied Carbon

Since the Carter administration, there have been executive orders that encourage increases in energy efficiency, which result in lowering operational carbon. This new executive order is the first federal-level recognition of the significant impact of carbon emissions associated with the other phases in the life of a building. Collectively, these are called embodied carbon and include emissions of all the steps of a building’s construction and life from extraction of construction materials through demolition, not including emissions produced during building use.