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Extracted Content

Core and Shell only Communicate the embodied carbon measurements and material suppliers in the tenant guidelines.

REQUIREMENTS EXPLAINED

This prerequisite ensures that all projects become acquainted with embodied carbon and gain a basic understanding of how to quantify and measure it. It also highlights the critical role of material selection, emphasizing that informed choices across major material categories are essential to achieving meaningful reductions in embodied carbon. The prerequisite aims to raise awareness of the upfront embodied carbon associated with key materials used in the structure, enclosure, and hardscape of a project. This prerequisite does not mandate reductions in embodied carbon.

Project teams can achieve this prerequisite in two ways:

• As a stand-alone assessment conducted for projects not attempting the MRc2: Reduce Embodied Carbon, OR

• As an output from projects that are attempting the MRc2: Reduce Embodied Carbon .

The intention is that many projects will attempt to earn points from the MRc2: Reduce Embodied Carbon and use the analysis as the documentation for this prerequisite with no further analysis needed.

In addition, all projects will need to summarize the top three sources of embodied carbon in their project and describe what strategies in the project were considered to reduce the impact of these hotspots.

Embodied Carbon

The extraction and manufacturing phases of building materials account for a substantial portion of embodied carbon emissions, primarily due to energy-intensive raw material extraction, transportation from manufacturers to construction sites, and the waste produced during manufacturing. Projects that seek carbon reductions in the early design phases (schematic design and design development) can make the most significant decisions to reduce embodied carbon early in projects, not after design is complete when material substitutions may not be allowed or become cost prohibitive. The owner, designers, and contractors can collectively

U.S. Green Building Council LEED v5 Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction, April 2025 Launch Edition 397