Sources: One Click LCA, Helsinki; CP staff
The 2025 Carbon Experts Report from One Click LCA, a sustainability platform with Finland headquarters and New York satellite office, underscores the positive impact of life-cycle assessments (LCAs) on reducing embodied carbon in construction, increasing influence of building material choices, and barriers to further progress. LCAs are tools for calculating the environmental impact of processes and products during their life cycle. Respondents to surveys behind the report represent material production and product manufacturing interests, plus architect, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals.
The report identifies a significant embodied carbon reduction possibility with construction LCAs. More than 60 percent of AEC respondents estimate reductions of at least 10 percent, showing the measurable decarbonization impact of widespread LCA adoption in the industry. Encouragingly, authors note, 31 percent of respondents have already successfully reduced embodied carbon by up to 20 percent through LCA use, while 23 percent have achieved reductions of up to 30 percent. These findings are supported by One Click LCA’s own research, which shows that carbon emissions can be reduced by more than one-third if the lowest-carbon-emitting materials and products are specified throughout a building.
The Carbon Experts Report also notes how 86 percent of surveyed producers or manufacturers expect to cut carbon in material or product development by up to 30 percent; half aim for reductions of up to 10 percent, while 36 percent plan to cut between 11-30 percent. Authors also point to critical barriers hindering progress toward a low-carbon built environment. These include a lack of robust national regulations, which 85 percent of AEC professionals cite as a core hurdle. Implementing consistent carbon reduction strategies across projects and regions remains challenging, as there are great variations in national regulation and a lack of clear and consistent policies.
“We hope these findings serve as a call to action for the industry and regulators. We are now at a tipping point where technology, market demand, and regulations are coming together to speed up sustainable practices across the construction value chain. The path to decarbonization requires sustained commitment from all stakeholders,” says One Click LCA Founder and CEO Panu Pasanen.
Beyond widespread LCA adoption, he adds, Environmental Product Declarations are becoming increasingly critical in material or product selection and procurement decisions throughout the global construction industry. Producers, manufacturers and AEC professionals overwhelmingly (> 80 percent) agree that EPDs influence purchasing decisions.