EC3 2.0: From Transparency to Action
Compare building materials by their declared carbon
EC3 2.0 reads Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), puts each product's global warming potential in kg CO2e per declared unit next to the rest of its category, and carries the result into your project's bill of materials. A complete rebuild of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator — faster and smoother, with verified, comparable data at its core.
Free to use, from the world's largest nonprofit-led, open-access embodied carbon platform. The EC3 2.0 beta opens October 20, 2026, starting with Find & Compare Materials, with more features released in phases.
Source: EC3 platform data as of October 2026.
Why EC3
The open, nonprofit-led data layer that building tools run on
EC3 is neutrally stewarded by Building Transparency, a nonprofit. The core data stays free and public — that is what open infrastructure means in practice. Organizations that build on EC3, procure through it, and depend on it for policy compliance have relied on that commitment since 2019.
Verified, comparable data
Every declaration shows its source, program operator, and verification status. Values are shown as published, with any unit conversion shown alongside.
Neutral stewardship
EC3 is operated by a nonprofit. No manufacturer, tool vendor, or program operator owns the platform or controls access to its data.
Free and open by design
Core tools are free to any registered user. Membership is how organizations that depend on EC3 sustain that shared infrastructure and engage more deeply.
Explore EC3 2.0
Six things you can do in EC3 2.0
The beta starts with Find & Compare Materials. Project Planner and other features follow in phases. Select any item to see its screen.
Find & Compare Materials
How it works
From a declaration to a project total in three steps
-
Find & Compare
Search a product or pick categories from the tree. Results list each EPD's reported GWP in kg CO2e per declared unit and plot it against the category distribution, with the median, the 20th and the 80th percentile marked.
-
Plan the project
Add lines to a bill of materials with a quantity and a unit. Each line takes a specific EPD or a category baseline; the project shows an achievable, a realized, and a conservative total against the reference you set. Coming in a later phase.
-
Report by stage
The LCA results summary lays the total out by life-cycle stage, A1–A3 through C1–C4, grouped by estimate or by UniFormat II. Stages without data are marked as not measured rather than counted as zero. Coming in a later phase.
What is in EC3 2.0
Built around the declaration
EC3 shows each declaration as published, with its source, verification status, and data quality indicators. The beta starts with Find & Compare Materials; more capabilities follow in phases.
Category distributions
Every result is plotted against its category: median, achievable (20th percentile), and conservative (80th percentile), with the sample size and life-cycle scope stated next to the chart.
Declared units kept
A single declaration shows its values in the units of the source document, with the conversion factor to EC3's normalized unit alongside.
Data quality indicators
Each declaration shows indicators — like supply chain specificity — alongside its source and verification status, so you can judge the figure in context.
Life-cycle stages A1 to C4
Product (A1–A3), transport (A4), construction (A5), use (B), and end of life (C1–C4) are kept apart. A total is shown with the stages it covers, not instead of them.
Project Planner
Projects sit in folders with area and total GWP per project. Lines are grouped by UniFormat II or MasterFormat, and each line carries its quantity, unit, realized kg CO2e, and share of its parent.
API and higher rate limits
The same data the interface shows is available over the EC3 API. Declarations can be exported to openEPD format. Higher API rate limits are available for members.
Coming next: Ingestion of non-EPD impact data — PCFs, PEFs, and TM65 — to fill gaps where EPDs are not yet available, displayed clearly and distinguished from EPDs.
Access
Core EC3 tools will always be free
The EPD repository, Find & Compare Materials, and the core Project Planner are free to any registered user — no subscription, no card. Membership is how organizations that depend on EC3 go deeper, stay connected, and sustain open data infrastructure.
- Find and compare declarations at no cost
- Create projects and bills of materials for free, with expanded project capacity for members
- Upload published EPDs at no cost
- Free API access; higher rate limits available for members
FAQ
Questions we are asked
What is an EPD?
An Environmental Product Declaration is a document, published by a program operator and verified by a third party, that reports a product's environmental impacts per declared unit following the product category rules (PCR) for that product type. Global warming potential in kg CO2e is one of the indicators it reports; EC3 shows that figure together with the other indicators the declaration contains.
How do I get access to EC3 2.0?
To access the beta, simply register for a free EC3 account - if you do not have one - by going here: https://app.bt-ec3.org/auth/register. The beta opens October 20, 2026, starting with Find & Compare Materials. More features follow in phases, with general availability planned for early 2027.
Which life-cycle stages does EC3 2.0 cover?
Declarations are shown with every stage they report, from A1–A3 (product) through A4–A5, B, and C1–C4, plus D where declared. Project totals are planned to cover A1–A3 from the bill of materials, A4 transport, and A5 construction inputs; B, C, and D will be marked as not measured in the project summary until a project records them. Comparisons are made within the stages both sides report.
Where does the data come from, and who checks it?
From program operators, manufacturers, and public EPD registries, and from PDFs that users upload, which EC3 checks before creating a record. Verification is done by the program operator's third-party verifier before publication, not by EC3. EC3 records each declaration's source, verification status, and data quality indicators and shows them on the record so you can judge the figure in context.
I'm a manufacturer. How do my EPDs get into EC3?
Published EPDs flow in from connected program operators automatically. You can also upload a published EPD PDF directly — EC3 checks it against the catalog and creates the record. If you have questions about a specific program operator or EPD that is not appearing, contact the EC3 team.
Can public agencies rely on EC3 data?
EC3 is neutrally stewarded and used by some of the largest building and infrastructure owners in the world. Every declaration shows its source, program operator, verification status, and data quality indicators, and the core data stays free and open. EC3 is relied on in Buy Clean policies and public procurement programs in North America and Europe.
What changes from the current EC3?
The data model, API, and interface are rebuilt. For a user the visible changes are the search-first entry over the category tree, the results workspace with the distribution chart beside the table, the declaration page with impacts by stage and data quality indicators, the Project Planner with folders and an LCA summary by stage (coming in a later phase), and the PDF upload flow with per-file status. EC3 1.0 remains available through the transition.
EC3 2.0 Beta
Try the EC3 2.0 beta
Open to all from October 20, 2026, starting with Find & Compare Materials. Tell us what works and what doesn't — your feedback shapes each phase.
