Source: American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, Va.
The ASCE Structural Engineering Institute’s Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment Program (SE 2050) provides members with the resources to contribute and track projects toward the vision of net-zero embodied carbon structures by mid-century. The program responds to the Carbon Leadership Forum’s SE 2050 Challenge, wherein “All structural engineers shall understand, reduce and ultimately eliminate embodied carbon in their projects by 2050.”
In response, the Structural Engineering Institute Sustainability Committee has been developing the first national program aimed at member commitments to achieve net-zero embodied carbon structures over the next three decades. The SE 2050 Commitment Program is broken down into Plan, Implement and Share strategies. After formally signing onto the commitment, participants need to create an Embodied Carbon Action Plan covering embodied carbon education, reporting, reduction strategies and advocacy. Firms will then implement plans with the support of educational resources and tools accessible through www.SE2050.org. After adequate metrics have been collected for different regions and building types in a SE 2050 database, embodied carbon benchmarks and reduction targets will be developed.