‘You Only Get One Shot’: Why Reducing Carbon Emissions Is A High Priority For Buildings

Emissions from buildings around the globe account for nearly 42% of all carbon released into the air. The majority of those emissions are due to building operations, while about a third are from embodied carbon in building materials. 

Although operational carbon emissions have declined slightly and, with the push to full-building electrification, are trending downward, the environmental effects of buildings and developments remain far-reaching. These span through the full building life cycle — from material manufacturing, project construction, operations and demolition — and largely result from the energy consumed during those stages. 

In response, companies such as SOCOTEC, an architectural, engineering and advisory consulting firm, are working with owners and project teams to forge a cleaner future for the built environment. 

“To alleviate the climate crisis, it is increasingly important for the architectural and engineering industry to address embodied carbon,” SOCOTEC principal and Energy Services Director Andrew Graceffa said. “In short, they are emitted on Day 1. You only get one shot to address reductions.”

SOCOTEC performs whole-building life cycle assessments to understand the environmental impact of the full project and each component of the building process, Graceffa said. The process involves multiplying all of the material quantities and types by their relative emissions factors to find the overall emissions of a project. This provides what is referred to as a cradle-to-gate assessment of a project.  

For many years, operational energy usage and energy efficiency have been the primary focus of the industry. But over the past 10 to 15 years, as relative building emissions have dropped, the impact of the embodied carbon takes up a greater share of a project's whole-building emissions profile, Graceffa said.

“The greatest amount of opportunity in the interest of overall emissions reduction is in embodied carbon,” he said. “Embodied carbon emissions are Day 1 emissions, compared to operational emissions that are projected and refined over the building's entire life span. Both are critical, but the time element in addressing climate change drives a focus both on the short- and long-term impacts.”

While some companies may view the implementation of a carbon reduction plan as “too big to tackle,” more stakeholders are demanding to know the environmental, social and corporate governance profile of an investment, SOCOTEC Director of Strategy Jesse Rittenhouse said. It is estimated that ESG assets will reach $50T by 2025. The embodied carbon emissions of a proposed project or an existing asset are important components to Scope 3 emissions reporting.

In turn, more CRE companies and building owners are having to disclose their carbon emissions and engage in industry reporting mechanisms to allow their investors to compare. 

However, this doesn’t come without its challenges. 

“The sheer quantity of data that needs to be pulled to align with ESG accounting measures can be daunting,” Rittenhouse said. “We also see some clients struggle with measuring ESG goals. Many times clients will have a plan in place but aren’t sure if it’s realistic or achievable.” 

Measuring environmental impact can also be particularly challenging since there is no universally accepted standard of measuring ESG performance or carbon emissions yet. But as time progresses, this is starting to change, and Graceffa said that “things are starting to become clearer as the A&E industry and governments tackle it from multiple angles.” 

Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled new disclosure requirements that aim to increase carbon emission transparency across the CRE industry. ASHRAE, formally the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, is finalizing the 240P standard that will guide operational and embodied carbon emissions assessments for proposed and existing projects. And through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Buy Clean requirements, the General Services Administration is working to accelerate material data reporting and embodied carbon performance by leveraging its purchasing power, Graceffa said.

On the municipal side, Local Law 97 in New York City is the world's first legislation mandating carbon benchmarking and assesses carbon performance to reach the city’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. All buildings larger than 25K SF are required to meet the city’s 40% carbon reduction goal by 2030 or face hefty fines. 

In Boston, the Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance aims to bring the city’s stock of buildings larger than 20K SF to net-zero by 2050. These buildings are required to report energy and water usage to the city or face similarly strict penalties.  

Other cities and municipalities across the country are enacting similar regulations, such as Building Energy Performance Standards in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco’s Existing Buildings Energy Ordinance. But the Northeast is largely leading the charge. 

In cities like Miami and Orlando, Florida, concerns regarding climate change’s impact on building resiliency are especially prevalent due to extreme and frequent weather events.   

Mimicking Boston and New York City’s benchmarking plans, Orlando has enacted a requirement that makes commercial buildings of 50K SF or larger and public buildings 10K SF or larger report energy utilization to encourage sustainability. Similarly, Miami’s Building Efficiency 305 encourages private and public sector buildings of more than 20K SF to report energy usage. This, however, is completely voluntary, unlike in other cities across the country. 

“Miami has had a positive response as far as voluntary participants go,” Rittenhouse said. “We’ve been able to connect with building owners of LEED-certified projects that are doing really well in this area. Some of these cities are finding effective ways to improve sustainability and reduce climate impacts.”

A lot of what SOCOTEC has seen in the past has been regulation around operational carbon, or how much carbon is released into the atmosphere from a building’s daily operations, Rittenhouse said.

“We’re now starting to see some legislation for embodied carbon as well, especially in Florida and the rest of the Southeast and California,” he said.

The city of Miami Beach was the first in the world to create a sustainability and resiliency ordinance that requires the International Living Future Institute’s Petal or Living Building Challenge certifications as acceptable alternatives to LEED certification for all new construction over 7K SF.

One key aspect of ILFI’s certifications is the imperative for energy and carbon reduction, which requires reducing operational and embodied carbon. California has also set goals to establish a framework to measure and reduce embodied carbon. 

SOCOTEC’s team of environmental experts knows how to investigate this complex data, digest it and build upon it, Graceffa said. The firm has worked on projects across the globe that encompass essentially all asset types, ranging from office and residential buildings to schools, hotels, cultural centers and supermarkets, to name just a few. 

“We have a number of projects across the country, especially in the New York City and Miami areas, that are being worked on in various consultation phases, whether it be existing building assessments or improvement plans,” Graceffa said. “We assist clients throughout the entire process, from concept to completion and into post-occupancy.”

Companies need to be prepared for sustainability regulation changes. For those looking to get a jump in the embodied carbon emissions space, it is best to start by having a conversation around materiality and what a portfolio’s goals are to achieve carbon reduction, Rittenhouse said. 

“We understand that we have a clock on this issue, so having these conversations about reducing carbon and acting expeditiously and effectively is critical,” he said. “Thankfully, with our repertoire of lessons learned on past projects coupled with the niche skill set of our team of experts, we are able to provide sound advice to owners, developers and project teams to provide just this.”

This article was produced in collaboration between SOCOTEC and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.