The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the construction materials used for buildings and built infrastructure account for more than 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The agency now hopes to boost the adoption of materials with lower built-in emissions by offering $160 million in grants to better track and ultimately reduce the climate pollution associated with these materials.
The “Built-in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction for Building Materials and Products” grants are tied to the Biden administration’s goals of reducing US greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 % by 2030 compared to 2005 levels and achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050, along with its Buy Clean initiative for federal construction projects, according to Janet McCabe, EPA deputy administrator. The agency selected 38 of the 105 applicants to receive grants, he said on a call with reporters. Grant awards range from $250,000 to $10 million.
“The federal government will lead by example here and we will support the manufacturing sector as low-carbon materials become the norm, not the premium product,” McCabe said.
The grants support efforts to develop environmental product statements that track the environmental impact of a given material, allowing buyers to compare embodied emissions alongside other factors such as price and performance characteristics.
One of the two $10 million grants will go to the National Asphalt Pavement Association. In 2014, it became a program operator for verified asphalt mixture product statements, and then in 2017 created a tool to help asphalt pavement manufacturers develop them, which it has continued to update, according to Audrey Copeland, president and CEO of the group.
In the early years, it had only 18 asphalt mixing plants that issued a few dozen product claims. But now it has more than 300 plants that have released 2,500, Copeland told reporters.
“We’re getting to the point where we can include everything when we’re evaluating materials and products, not just cost, but also engineering and environmental impacts,” he said.
With the grant, the association plans to focus on continuing to improve its product declaration program and incentivize companies to publish with bonuses, as well as establish tools for full life cycle assessment and implement programs of development of the template in product declarations of asphalt mixtures.
“The purpose of this is to be able to establish a baseline for our industry, where we’ll know we’re improving year after year as we implement these technologies and improve our energy and materials efficiencies,” Copeland said.
Other beneficiaries include a combination of materials suppliers such as Heidelberg Materials US Inc. and Holcim US Inc., universities, groups such as the International Code Council and the International Living Future Institute, and supplier groups such as the Portland Cement Association and the National Ready-Mixed Concrete. association The full list of grants is on the EPA website.
The National Ready-Mixed Concrete Association plans to use its $9.6 million grant in its “Build Strong” initiative to educate architects and engineers about working with low-carbon concrete. The group has set itself the goal of increasing the number of concrete producers creating product statements by 3,000 from the current 1,500 plants.
“This grant is an investment to accelerate our efforts to move the industry towards low-carbon concrete solutions,” Michael Philipps, the group’s chairman, said in a statement.
Work on the various efforts begins this year, and the grantees are expected to complete their projects by 2029, McCabe said.
