Committee hears bill to require embodied-carbon reporting and reductions for large buildings

The Capital Budget Committee took testimony on substitute House Bill 14 58 on Feb. 25, a bill that would require the State Building Code Council to adopt rules to reduce embodied carbon in large building projects and to establish public reporting through the Department of Commerce.

Staff told the committee the bill directs the state building code council to develop embodied-carbon reduction standards that apply to new construction, additions and renovations of 50,000 square feet or larger. Projects may comply by reusing part of an existing building, selecting lower-carbon materials, or completing a whole-building life-cycle assessment (LCA), staff member Ingrid Lewis said.

The substitute would require design professionals to submit embodied-carbon data on a Commerce-created standard form and database, and would require Commerce to conduct random audits on 3% of products…