(A07) Are your Carbon Claims Omitting Some Emissions?

Carbon neutrality claims abound. Which are true? Are most of them excluding important sources of emissions? The answer is yes – we are working in a time of rapid change, and while we used to think of net zero energy as the answer, we now know about more emissions sources from buildings. From the many flavors of embodied carbon – especially interiors and the circular economy – to the complexity of operational carbon, the speakers will review what we know and what we can do today on our projects, as well as what we should be looking toward over the next few years as more data becomes available. Based on the Path To Zero Carbon series involving dozens of industry experts, this session focuses on emissions from the built environment, created by and for practitioners who are making carbon-related decisions every day. Participants will come away with a shared understanding of the most important daily actions on projects. The intro will briefly frame the question, including the larger aspects of equity, resilience, the social cost of carbon, and who is responsible for emissions according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. The bulk of the time will be an engaging presentation and discussion on interactive topics, from structural embodied carbon to the interplay of envelope embodied carbon with peak energy use, MEP embodied carbon, and the electricity grid. A few deeper dives will be part of the session, including enacting a circular economy and a breakout session based on emerging areas in carbon practice, with experts to help get ideas going.