Description
Embodied carbon represents the GHG emissions from the life cycle of materials used to created something. For buildings, this includes the extraction, manufacturing, transport, construction, and disposal of building materials. Many industrial manufacturers of building materials have fewer GHG reduction requirements in Washington under the Climate Commitment Act, as Energy-Intensive Trade Exposed industries. King County will support private industry in developing and publishing Environmental Product Declarations and setting Global Warming Potential limits in public and private construction projects. King County’s $50 million Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funds an Embodied Carbon Program Manager to support reduction of embodied carbon from materials including cement, concrete, and steel, and possibly wood, gypsum board, and other products as identified through program research. This grant funded effort will help design and deploy an embodied carbon program for government capital projects. The program will include development of lower embodied carbon contract specifications for the highest impact materials.
All agencies with capital programs are required to evaluate which capital programs and projects in their CIP use the largest volumes of high-embodied carbon materials such as concrete, asphalt, carpet, steel, gypsum, rebar, and wood and to identify which capital projects and programs will use lower embodied carbon contract specifications for the highest impact materials. Agencies must demonstrate in writing that these requirements have been integrated into their Capital Project Manual, or other applicable project guidance, to ECO by 2026. Capital projects that begin in the 28–29 budget shall include these new requirements. Agencies will coordinate with the CPRG Embodied Carbon Manager to evaluate materials, ensure alignment, and gather data on avoided embodied carbon emissions.