Embodied Carbon Harmonization
and Optimization
The Challenge
AEC industry organizations are increasingly reporting built environment embodied carbon emissions. Variations in life cycle assessment (LCA) scope, methodology, terminology, and other factors result in inconsistent reporting that impedes comparison, benchmarking, or setting reduction targets.
These limitations hold the industry back from more rapid adoption of embodied carbon measurement and management practices.
The Project
Following years of collaboration amongst various individual groups, built environment industry leaders in North America have come together to create a coalition to accelerate and strategize how to rapidly reduce embodied carbon in the built environment.
As organizations currently or imminently gathering embodied carbon data from the built environment industry, creating tools and resources, and building awareness about this critical issue, we believe that we can move faster together.
Convening Organizations
Participating Organizations
ECHO is a coalition convened jointly by five leading non-profit organizations: Architecture2030, Building Transparency, the Carbon Leadership Forum, the International Living Future Institute, and the US Green Building Council.
The coalition is comprised of representatives from the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society of Landscape Architects, BRE (Building Research Establishment), Builders for Climate Action, the Canada Green Building Council, the Contractors Commitment, Climate Positive Design, Infrastructure 2050, the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL), the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), the MEP 2040 Commitment, the SEI SE 2050 Commitment, and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
The ECHO Story
ECHO Project partner organizations first came together in March of 2023 to form a coalition to strategize and accelerate the rapid reduction of embodied carbon in the built environment by aligning the collection and reporting of data by certification programs and initiatives across the industry.
The Carbon Leadership Forum coordinates and facilitates the ECHO Project, having taken on the role after a successful launch led by Architecture 2030. The ECHO Project member organizations continue meeting to further define scopes and accounting practices for embodied carbon in the built environment, as well as to discuss future projects.
The ECHO Project announced its first milestone in September 2023 with an internal working draft of an LCA Reporting Framework. In 2024, ECHO’s member organizations successfully drafted, adopted and publicly released two consensus-based publications that represent historic alignment on embodied carbon data collection and reporting parameters. In September 2024, ECHO announced a public-facing publication of the Data Reporting Schema to encourage all organizations (standards-setting organizations, professional commitment organizations, and others) to use the same data schema for databases and digital tools to gather and share whole building/project embodied carbon data in the same way. A month later, in October 2024, the public publication of the Project Life Cycle Assessment Requirements - ECHO Recommendations for Alignment was released.
The scope of reporting requirements represents areas where consensus has been reached among the ECHO partner organizations. The organizations involved are encouraged by this step towards clarity, alignment, and collaborative action to advance the rapid transformation of the built environment towards a decarbonized future.
Later in 2024, ECHO was honored with the Malcolm Lewis Impact Award, recognizing leadership and commitment in transforming the built environment. Check out the acceptance video here!
ECHO received a small financial award that was then distributed to two member organizations through a careful selection process based on projected impact. The awards are intended to assist organizations in the implementation of the ECHO Schema into their data collection platforms. The two awarded organizations are working to standardize data collection for MEP systems and for exterior built environment projects, including landscape architecture/civil engineering/infrastructure.
Three new organizational members were added to ECHO through a consensus process in 2025, expanding the goal of embodied carbon alignment into new focus areas, including small-scale residential and laboratories.
In fall 2026, the ECHO member organizations again lent their collective expertise and desire for alignment to the drafting and adoption of a third publication, Project LCA Baseline Guidance. CLF continues in the role of ECHO Project convenor, maintaining the momentum established by these groundbreaking publications.
Leaders across rating systems, industry membership organizations, embodied carbon subject matter expert organizations, and industry commitment leaders