Builders for Climate Action

Our goal is to actively transform construction practices to become climate positive as quickly and intelligently as possible. We support a growing coalition of designers, builders, developers, policy-makers and material manufacturers in many ways: -BEAM (Building emissions accounting for materials) calculator. This tool enables designers and builders to estimate the GHG emissions from their building materials and to make choices that will reduce these emissions to zero, and beyond. -Research. Our first white paper, Low-rise Buildings as a Climate Change Solution, focused awareness on the issue of material-related emissions and helped bring the notion of “embodied carbon” to a wider audience. We are currently involved in research to establish benchmarks for material emissions from low-rise residential buildings and methodologies for accounting for carbon storage in building materials. -Education. We provide webinars, training sessions and resource materials for designers and builders wanting to achieve zero carbon in their projects. -Membership services. The member portal of our website allows designers and builders to “show off” their low-carbon and carbon-storing building projects and share the methods and materials they used to achieve their results. Home owners can find designers and builders in their region with a commitment to climate positive buildings. -Policy support. We work with municipalities to develop methodologies and policies to support zero-carbon construction.