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Pitch

This project makes the green building supply chain visible to the broad general audience by developing a sustainable mosaic ecolabel system


Description

Summary

 

 

The building industry is the result of a long supply chain encompassing designers, contractors, transport, packaging and manufacturers. However, this concatenated effort is invisible to the general public and even to many companies inside the complex supply chain since the construction sector is characterized by a high degree of fragmentation within, and non-integration between its many elements (UNEP SBCI 2014).

 

While the need to reduce energy and GHG from building has become increasingly recognized (WGBC 2013), efforts related to the resource use in the building supply chain (BSC) are less advanced and it has now been accepted that greening the BSC is a necessary precondition for up scaling delivery of green buildings and realizing these opportunities on a commercially viable and widespread basis (UNEP SBCI 2014).

 

Many companies are now developing Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), a claim that indicates the environmental aspects of a product, based on a lifecycle assessment (LCA) (ISO 2006). The impact of  product is usually in the BSC, so when a LCA is carried out on a physical product such as concrete, the biggest impacts are in the supply chain, and are therefore already embedded in the product before they get to the company for the manufacturing process  (Arratia 2012). Many EPD for construction products are already available, but the fragmentation within the BSC makes these efforts isolated and eventually invisible for other companies downstream and for the final consumer.

 

This project aims to make the green BSC visible by developing a mosaic ecolabel system where each company within the supply chain obtains a tile in response to the adoption of environmental product declarations (EPD). Each company, including SMEs, pass the tile to the other company product downstream until eventually the complete supply chain becomes visible through a large map of tiles that can be exhibited both by its physical and digital version.


Category of the action

Mitigation/Adaptation, Changing public attitudes about climate change


What actions do you propose?

 

1.- Develop a sustainability mosaic ecolabel system (SMES) composed of symbolic tiles that serves as an internationally recognized language for the recognition of green building supply chain efforts in any building project. The SMES will have a physical representation as well as an online interface for worldwide access.

 

2.-Support through the SMES, the greater adoption and application of EPDs in the building sector . Facillitating the international up-scaling and implementation of life cycle assessments and tools to allow for use by SMEs and in developing countries.

 

3.-Collaborate with reporting and disclosure organizations (Such as EPD programs from all over the world)  and with private sectors organizations representing the target group of companies and its final audience to foster and coordinate development of the SMES.

 

4.-Provide a platform for stakeholders in the building sector to engage in developing and implementing strategies for the systematic application of EPD in the building supply chain.

 

5.- Facilitate capacity building for private sector resource efficient building and reporting and disclosure practices, improving private/public knowledge targeted at SMEs.

 


Who will take these actions?

 

Center for Building Research and Innovation

EPD Programs

Material and Equipment Suppliers

Contractors

Owners

Developers


Where will these actions be taken?

 

Developing countries, where the greatest amount of construction activities will take place in the following decades. The project will begin specifically with a pilot project in Latin America.


How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?

 

It has been estimated that in use emissions account for over 80% of the total life cycle carbon emissions of buildings, with a further 15% of emissions embodied in materials and around1% resulting from the construction process itself.  Through greater efforts in the supply chain it is expected to reduce emissions around a 50%.


What are other key benefits?

 

The project considers all  the stages of the building life cycle, educates a broader audience outside the building sector, safeguards other resources such as water and minerals, promotes company’s environmental information disclosure and reporting in easy to understand format and language


What are the proposal’s costs?

The economic costs are $50,000USD


Time line

 

 

The Project total time line will be 2 years

The First Phase (8 months) will to develop a sustainable mosaic ecolabel system (SMES) composed of symbolic tiles that serves as an internationally recognized language for the recognition of green building supply chain efforts in any building project. The SMES will have a physical representation that will be distributed to companies that currently hold an EPD as well as an online interface for worldwide access.

During this phase companies will receive suport for the greater adoption and application of EPDs in the building sector

The Second Phase (6 months) will be to collaborate with reporting and disclosure organizations (Such as EPD programs from all over the world)  and with private sectors organizations representing the target group of companies. During this phase a platform for stakeholders in the building sector will be available to engage in developing and implementing strategies for the systematic application of EPD in the building supply chain.

The Third Phase (10 months)  will improve capacity building for private sector resource efficient building and reporting and disclosure practices, improving private/public knowledge targeted at SMEs.


Related proposals


References

 

WGBC. «The Business Case for Green Building. A Review of the Costs and Benefits for Developers, Investors and Occupants.» 2013.

UNEP SBCI. «Greening the Building Supply Chain.» 2014.

Fernandez, John. Material Architecture: Emergent Materials for Innovative Buildings and Ecological Construction. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2006.

Arratia, Ramon. Full Product Transparency: Cutting the Fluff Out of Sustainability. Oxford: Do Sustainability, 2012.

ISO. «Environmental Management-Life cycle assessment- Principles and Framwework.» 2006.