The Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF), a coalition made up of over 30 building industry leaders that includes the American Institute of Architects, Perkins and Will architects, Autodesk, the American Institute of Steel Construction, and the American Concrete Institute Foundation, among others, has unveiled a new tool that could help designers better understand the carbon footprints of the building materials they specify. 

The so-called EC3 tool is developed as an open-source technology that allows users to see the embodied carbon impacts of materials before they are specified, according to a news release. 

According to the Building Transparency website, the tool allows designers to visualize different material scenarios using the embodied carbon emissions of a variety of structural approaches, interior and exterior finishes, and other building systems. Materials and their specific embodied carbon footprints come pre-loaded into the software, which also accounts for materials transportation and other factors when creating carbon emissions estimates. The tool also allows for designers to customize the material stats to better suit custom applications throughout a variety of projects.  

The tool comes as building industry leaders begin to formulate strategies for reducing and ultimately eliminating carbon emissions from the built environment. According to CLF, "Embodied Carbon (EC) makes up most of the 2030 climate impact of a typical new office building," with the tool, the group hopes to spur shifts in how materials are manufactured and disposed of. According to CLF, "Carbon-aware specification and procurement policies, backed by a contractual requirement to deliver verified EPDs [Environmental Product Declarations] for materials delivered to site, can drive change in the supply chain at low to minimal cost.

The Carbon Leadership Forum is based out of the University of Washington College of the Built Environments as an "industry-academic collaboration" that coordinates "a professional community of manufacturers, designers, builders and academics focused on reducing the carbon ‘embodied’ in building materials," according to the organization's website.

The EC3 tool will be released for public and industry use during the Greenbuild International conference taking place starting November 19, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. Earlier this year, it was announced that former President Barack Obama will deliver the event's keynote address.