An independently verified and registered document that communicates transparent and comparable information about life cycle environmental impact of products.

The energy efficiency of a building’s design and/or operations.

Free and easy-to-use tool that allows benchmarking, assessment, and reductions in embodied carbon, focused on the upfront supply chain emissions of construction materials.

Drafted plan outlining the key steps and actions necessary to reduce the embodied carbon of the buildings we design, construct, and operate.

The carbon impact of a material or product that is associated with its production and construction or installation. At the building scale, a project’s embodied carbon impact is the sum of all the impacts of its components, such as structure, envelope, and interiors.

The process of reducing or completely eliminating the release of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

The GHG emissions required to produce a product from raw materials extraction (“cradle” where material inputs are “born”) through the end-of-life (“grave”).

The life cycle stages of raw materials extraction through manufacturing. This upfront carbon can’t be reduced over time.

The process of designing a product so that its materials and components can be repurposed or recycled continuously.

The significant variation of average weather patterns.

A product or process making no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

A product or process in which more carbon is captured than emitted into the atmosphere.

The CLF is a non-profit organization aiming to transform the building sector to drastically reduce the embodied carbon in building materials and construction via research, resource development, cross-industry collaboration, and member-led initiatives.

The amount of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide, emitted by something or someone.