Dodge Data and Analytics recently released the 2021 World Green Building Trends Report, of which USGBC is a contributing partner. In addition to projecting growth in green building over the next several years, the report found that reducing embodied carbon is becoming a top priority within the industry.

Over the next 30 years, half of all greenhouse gas emissions from new buildings are projected to come from embodied carbon—which includes emissions from manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance and disposal of building materials. The green building industry is starting to focus more on this issue. In the 2021 report, respondents identified embodied carbon as one of their top priorities for the next five years.

The report showed that there is widespread understanding of the issue, with 82% of respondents aware of the concept of embodied carbon, and 34% actively tracking it in their projects. Of the respondents who are tracking, 22% said that they are actively seeking to reduce it, and 12% are not yet working to reduce it.