Abstract Manager

Over the past ten years, efforts to implement clean construction and buy-clean policies have taken hold across Canada and the United States. Particularly, policies that specify and require the submission of environmental product declarations (EPDs) on active projects have gained traction in state and local transportation agency programs within the United States, as well as more holistic project life cycle assessments within Canada. These two areas of focus complement one another and can be a powerful tool in the quantification and reduction of the embodied carbon impact of infrastructure and building projects. This presentation will provide an overview of embodied carbon programs being implemented in Canada and the United States, including the development of life cycle inventory (LCI) datasets, life cycle assessment (LCA) guidelines, and procurement policies that involve EPDs. We will explore recent improvements to EPDs and their associated product category rules (PCRs) within North America, real-world project examples from infrastructure assets in the New York City metro area, and recent developments to improve the quality and consistency of EPDs. We will demonstrate how EPDs have allowed project owners to measure, track, and report on the embodied carbon impacts associated with manufacturing construction materials, focusing on common transportation infrastructure materials such as asphalt, concrete, and steel. Lastly, we will show how EPDs improve transparency and help asset owners achieve their decarbonization goals.