Committee advances bill to curb embodied carbon in large buildings after narrow vote

The Capital Budget Committee on Feb. 26 voted to report Substitute House Bill 1458 out of committee with a due-pass recommendation. The bill would require steps to reduce embodied carbon emissions from buildings and building materials for covered projects; committee members amended the measure several times before forwarding it to the next stage.

The bill’s sponsor and committee staff described five amendments that alter reporting, coverage and targets. Ingrid Lewis, staff to the committee, summarized the substitute bill and said there are five amendments in the packet, including changes to which entities the State Building Code Council must consult and to reporting requirements.

Why it matters: embodied carbon — the greenhouse-gas emissions from producing and transporting building materials — is a growing focus for state building policy because materials can represent a substantial share of a project’s lifecycle emissions. The bill aims to require reductions for covered projects and to assign rulemaking and…