The term “built environment” is becoming a very popular way of describing the construction industry in broader terms. And the construction industry is undergoing a radical transformation. Why? Construction (or ‘the built environment’) accounts for an about 39% of energy-related CO₂ emissions when you combine operational use and embodied carbon from materials. What’s embodied carbon? When people talk about carbon in buildings, they usually think about the energy a building uses after it’s built — the lights, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). But embodied carbon is different. It’s the hidden carbon footprint that comes from making, transporting, and assembling all the materials that go into a building — like concrete, steel, glass, and insulation.
A big part of this is selecting materials – and you can have an effect on this!
For project leaders and project managers, this places material choice squarely into the realm of strategic, long-term risk, schedule impact and value creation—no longer just a technical specification item. For example, as a project manager, we could be faced with a decision to use a cheaper material which meets our needs but would involve a massive amount of embodied carbon over a slightly more expensive material that has a much lower amount of embodied carbon. A project leader could make the strategic decision to (OMG!) choose the more expensive material for the trade-off it would have in terms of embodied carbon. That tough decision may become easier, thanks to technology and the availability of quality information about materials. It's there for you.
For example, you can become familiar with Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) which help you – or your procurement manager, with your encouragement – to make these decisions. Here’s a guide on EPDs from the US Environmental Protection Agency. My suggestion: bookmark that PDF, and read on.
Low-carbon construction materials—such as geopolymer concrete, recycled steel, mass timber, and bio-based insulation—are moving from “nice to have” to “must have” – and it’s becoming more available. A recent market report (see references) pegged the global low-carbon construction materials market at US$66.2 billion in 2024, projected to reach US$79.2 billion by 2030. Why? Because regulation, investor pressure, ‘green’ demands from occupants of buildings, and material innovation are aligning. Simply becoming knowledgeable about this makes you a better project leader in the 'built environment' industry.
But one often under-appreciated driver is the effect of international trade and (increasingly) tariffs. How materials are sourced, imported or produced locally can dramatically shift the business case—and that is a lever project leaders must master if they want to lead, not just react – and not be that project manager that is trudging along making one tactical (non-strategic) decision after another.
What is causing this shift to low-carbon materials?
Regulatory & certification pressure: Governments and industry bodies are mandating or promoting embodied-carbon reporting, minimal carbon intensity thresholds, and green-building certification programs. For example, public procurement policies increasingly prioritize low-carbon building materials.
Market demand / investor & occupant expectations: Developers, asset owners and occupants increasingly expect sustainability credentials. Low-carbon materials become a differentiator in a crowded market. The demonstrated market growth underscores that the demand is becoming volume-based, not a niche situation.
Innovation & material science advances: Technical breakthroughs—such as alkali-activated binders, carbon-capture in concrete, mass timber systems—make low-carbon materials technically viable (see references below).
Trade/tariffs & supply-chain disruption: Import tariffs on construction materials increase cost and create sourcing risk; at the same time, they open opportunities for local, sustainable alternatives. For instance, one commentary notes that summary-tariffs of about 10% on imported construction goods in the U.S. will raise costs by US$7,500–10,000 per home (see references below).
Tariffs also make third-party low-carbon imports more expensive, shifting attention to locally-produced, lower-transport-carbon materials. But local sourcing itself carries risks: domestic production may be less mature, may not yet have low-carbon credentials, and may suffer supply scarcity or premium pricing. asuene.com+1
Cost of carbon / lifecycle cost thinking: As the industry looks beyond just “first cost” toward life-cycle cost and embodied carbon, low-carbon materials win on the “total value” metric—especially when tariffs push up conventional material costs, making alternatives comparatively more attractive. For example, local sourcing reduces transport emissions and exposure to tariffs, improving predictability.
What does this mean for those who want to truly lead – and not just manage – projects?
Here are some of the many ways you can do this, aligned with the project management process groups:
Initiation: incorporating low-carbon material goals into charter
Execution: assuring real-time tracking of the supply-chain, quality assurance, change control for material substitution
Monitoring & Control: metrics for embodied carbon, cost/benefit, supplier performance, staying close to the news, as geopolitics can change things radically in one day
Closure/Transition: collect sustainability-oriented lessons learned, verifying sustainability claims, publicizing the low carbon content of your project
Applying Power Skills: increased engagement with stakeholders, building organizational capacity, special focus on Strategic Thinking, Innovative Mindset, For-Purpose Orientation. You see the focus on life-cycle thinking, and this is one of the main attributes that distinguishes a project leader from workaday project managers.
In Part 2 of this blog post, I will provide an illustration of how this can work, a checklist for project leaders wanting to excel in reducing embodied carbon, and some tips on how AI can help you lead in this area. Stay tuned – that’s coming by the end of the month.
Luis BrancoCEO| Business Insight, Consultores de Gestão, LdªCarcavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
Excellent reflection, and I’d add that one of the most underestimated levers in this transition is how procurement becomes strategic knowledge management.
When project leaders integrate material intelligence early, understanding embodied carbon, tariffs, and local sourcing trade-offs, they stop reacting to market shocks and start designing resilience.
This isn’t just about low-carbon materials, but about a new governance logic: projects as living systems that learn, anticipate, and regenerate value through better information flow.
What once was a technical sub-decision has become a strategic act, where ethics, economics, and environment converge.
Leading in the built environment today means treating every procurement decision as a climate decision, aligning teams, suppliers, and data with that shared purpose.
