Massachusetts 2023-2024 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H764 Compare Versions

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22 HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1033 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
33 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 764
44 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
55 _________________
66 PRESENTED BY:
77 Michelle L. Ciccolo and Steven Owens
88 _________________
99 To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
1010 Court assembled:
1111 The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
1212 An Act incorporating embodied carbon into state climate policy.
1313 _______________
1414 PETITION OF:
1515 NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Michelle L. Ciccolo15th Middlesex1/17/2023Steven Owens29th Middlesex1/18/2023Margaret R. Scarsdale1st Middlesex2/13/2023Lindsay N. Sabadosa1st Hampshire3/2/2023Joanne M. ComerfordHampshire, Franklin and Worcester3/2/2023 1 of 5
1616 HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1033 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
1717 HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 764
1818 By Representatives Ciccolo of Lexington and Owens of Watertown, a petition (accompanied by
1919 bill, House, No. 764) of Michelle L. Ciccolo, Steven Owens and others for legislation to
2020 establish guidelines and recommendations for best practices for industry entities to measure,
2121 track, and reduce emissions from embodied carbon of buildings. Environment and Natural
2222 Resources.
2323 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
2424 _______________
2525 In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
2626 (2023-2024)
2727 _______________
2828 An Act incorporating embodied carbon into state climate policy.
2929 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
3030 of the same, as follows:
3131 1 SECTION 1. Chapter 21N of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the
3232 2following section:-
3333 3 Section 12. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the
3434 4following meanings:
3535 5 “Department”, the department of energy resources.
3636 6 “Embodied carbon”, the carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
3737 7associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building
3838 8or infrastructure.
3939 9 “Environmental product declaration” or “EPD”, a Type III environmental product
4040 10declaration, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 2 of 5
4141 1121930 and the relevant product category rule for each type of concrete product or a similarly
4242 12robust life-cycle assessment method that conforms to ISO 21930 and the relevant product
4343 13category rule for each type of concrete product.
4444 14 “Life-cycle assessment” or “LCA”, an assessment that is used to calculate the
4545 15environmental primary and secondary impacts, of a product, service, or process, over the lifetime
4646 16of that product, service, or process.
4747 17 (b) The Massachusetts state climate chief, in consultation with the department, shall
4848 18establish an Embodied Carbon Advisory Board. Members of the advisory board shall be
4949 19appointed by the climate chief and shall include, but not be limited to: (i) 2 licensed professional
5050 20engineers; (ii) 2 licensed registered architects; (iii) 2 representatives of the construction industry;
5151 21(iv) 2 representatives of an accredited school of civil engineering; (v) 2 representatives from
5252 22affordable housing organizations (vi) 1 representative from the Massachusetts Clean Energy
5353 23Center; (vii) 1 representative from the Massachusetts Building Commissioners and Inspectors
5454 24Association; (viii) 1 representative from the Board of Building Regulations and Standards and
5555 25(ix) 1 representative each from the executive office of transportation, the executive office of
5656 26housing and community development, the department of energy resources, the Division of
5757 27Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, and the department of environmental protection.
5858 28 The climate chief shall consider geographic diversity when making appointments to the
5959 29Embodied Carbon Advisory Board.
6060 30 (c) The Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience shall provide staffing support and
6161 31funding to the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board, including sufficient funding for 3 of 5
6262 32administration, research, legal assistance, public outreach, publications, a public website,
6363 33consulting and other functions.
6464 34 (d) The department, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and the
6565 35Massachusetts climate chief shall conduct an assessment of the current state of professional
6666 36literacy of embodied carbon and strategies to measure, monitor, and reduce embodied carbon
6767 37across relevant industry practitioners, including but not limited to (i) structural engineers, (ii)
6868 38electrical engineers (iii) mechanical engineers (iv) plumbing engineers, (v) architects, (vi)
6969 39building inspectors, and (vii) general contractors. Following the assessment, the department, in
7070 40consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and in collaboration with the Division
7171 41of Professional Licensure, shall provide recommendations for best approaches, including courses
7272 42and certifications, to advance industry literacy.
7373 43 (e) The department, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and the
7474 44Massachusetts climate chief, shall establish guidelines and recommendations for best practices
7575 45for industry entities to measure, track, and reduce emissions from embodied carbon of buildings.
7676 46The Embodied Carbon Advisory Board may establish guidelines and recommendations for best
7777 47practices for industry entities to measure, track, and reduce emissions from embodied carbon in
7878 48infrastructure. The guidelines shall include best practices for conducting a life-cycle analysis of
7979 49buildings and benchmarking emissions of new construction and renovation building projects as
8080 50well as environmental product declarations for building materials.
8181 51 (f) Notwithstanding any special or general law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the
8282 52department shall incorporate provisions that advance the measurement and reduction of 4 of 5
8383 53embodied carbon into the stretch energy code in appendix 115AA of the Massachusetts building
8484 54energy code.
8585 55 (g) The updates to the stretch code and specialized stretch energy code under section 6 of
8686 56chapter 25A shall be developed, adopted, and incorporated as an appendix to the state building
8787 57code on a timeline set by the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board in consultation with the
8888 58department and in alignment with the conclusions drawn from the state of literacy assessment
8989 59under subsection (d).
9090 60 SECTION 2. Clause (14) of section 6 of chapter 25A of the General Laws is hereby
9191 61amended by inserting after the words “net-zero building performance standards” the following
9292 62words:- “, the measurement and reduction of embodied carbon”
9393 63 SECTION 3. (a) The members of the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board shall be
9494 64appointed no later than 6 months after the effective date of this act.
9595 65 (b) The guidelines and recommendations relative to embodied and operational carbon
9696 66shall be issued by the department of energy resources no later than 1 year after the formation of
9797 67the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board.
9898 68 (c) No later than 1 year after the formation of the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board, the
9999 69Massachusetts state climate chief, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board
100100 70and the department, shall submit a report to the clerks of the house of representatives and the
101101 71senate detailing the best policy mechanisms to measure, monitor, and reduce embodied carbon
102102 72across all building types in the Commonwealth. This report shall consider interactions between
103103 73embodied carbon and operational carbon to ensure policy recommendations to reduce embodied
104104 74carbon also contribute to the reduction of operational carbon. This report shall include the best 5 of 5
105105 75approaches to integrate the reduction of embodied carbon into the Massachusetts state building
106106 76code, including the stretch and specialized stretch energy code as under section 96 of chapter 143
107107 77of the General Laws and state amendments to the International Building Code sections. This
108108 78report shall further include best practices to incentivize and enhance the re-use of building
109109 79materials and decrease building demolition, where beneficial.