Traditionally, building products are formulated in distant factories and travel thousands of miles before reaching their final destinations. An enormous amount of energy is required to extract, produce, and transport these materials, resulting in significant greenhouse gasses emitted into the environment during each stage.

Less visible, but no less important, are the impacts that building materials have on human health and ecosystems during their lifecycles, including extraction, production, transportation, installation, and disposal.

There is a strong business case for healthy and sustainable building materials, including preparing for expected regulations, aligning with building certification programs, meeting market demand, capturing increased value for assets, and achieving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.

The Materials Movement report furthers ULI’s past work on embodied carbon in real estate. It outlines the science behind material impacts on people and planet, makes the business case for better material choices, highlights strategies for reducing embodied carbon and improving material health in development, and showcases projects successfully addressing this issue.

Expected publication: Fall 2023