by: Bria Donohue
On September 23, during Building Breakthroughs: The Path to Zero Embodied Carbon Construction, the newly formed New York State Embodied Carbon Working Group released its recommendations for near-term actions. The Working Group is comprised of collection of more than 50 professionals (from the public sector, nonprofits, design professionals, academics, and consultants) working in embodied carbon in New York.
The New York State Embodied Carbon action plan charts a course for a construction sector that is not only sustainable but also economically vibrant and socially beneficial with high-impact, near-term policy recommendations for reducing embodied carbon across the built environment. Developed over three months, the Working Group’s recommendations reflect the collective expertise of diverse industry leaders and subject-matter experts. The insights and proposals are designed to inform policymakers on practical pathways to achieving New York’s ambitious climate goals—fostering innovation, creating green jobs, and building healthier, more resilient communities.
The near-term recommendations document lays out clear actions that policymakers can take to reduce emissions in New York State. Broken out into three buckets—incentives and financial support, codes and standards, and material reuse and circularity—the near-term action plans builds on the strong leadership and action underway in New York State and helps establish a framework and foundation for future reductions.
These recommendations build off the work AIANY has been conducting, in partnership with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the technical expertise of Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), on three bills before the New York State Legislature:
(1) A6566(Carroll)/S7648(Kavanagh) Creates incentives for utilizing low carbon construction materials;
(2) A8202(Epstein)/S8000(Comrie) Codifies embodied carbon portion of Executive Order 23;
(3) A8456(Kelles)/S7998(Kavanagh) Establishes three pathways for reducing embodied carbon in the building code: reuse, low carbon construction materials, or whole building life cycle assessment.