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SENATE DOCKET, NO. 840 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2090
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Joanne M. Comerford
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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act incorporating embodied carbon into state climate policy.
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PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Joanne M. ComerfordHampshire, Franklin and Worcester 1 of 5
SENATE DOCKET, NO. 840 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2090
By Ms. Comerford, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 2090) of Joanne M. Comerford
for legislation to incorporate embodied carbon into state climate policy. Telecommunications,
Utilities and Energy.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
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An Act incorporating embodied carbon into state climate policy.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Chapter 21N of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the
2following section:-
3 Section 12. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the
4following meanings:
5 “Department”, the department of energy resources.
6 “Embodied carbon”, the carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
7associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building
8or infrastructure.
9 “Environmental product declaration” or “EPD”, a Type III environmental product
10declaration, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard
1121930 and the relevant product category rule for each type of concrete product or a similarly 2 of 5
12robust life-cycle assessment method that conforms to ISO 21930 and the relevant product
13category rule for each type of concrete product.
14 “Life-cycle assessment” or “LCA”, an assessment that is used to calculate the
15environmental primary and secondary impacts of a product, service, or process, over the lifetime
16of that product, service, or process.
17 (b) The Massachusetts state climate chief, in consultation with the department, shall
18establish an Embodied Carbon Advisory Board. Members of the advisory board shall be
19appointed by the climate chief and shall include, but not be limited to: (i) 2 licensed professional
20engineers; (ii) 2 licensed registered architects; (iii) 2 representatives of the construction industry;
21(iv) 2 representatives of an accredited school of civil engineering; (v) 2 representatives from
22affordable housing organizations (vi) 1 representative from the Massachusetts Clean Energy
23Center; (vii) 1 representative from the Massachusetts Building Commissioners and Inspectors
24Association; (viii) 1 representative from the Board of Building Regulations and Standards and
25(ix) 1 representative each from the executive office of transportation, the executive office of
26housing and community development, the department of energy resources, the Division of
27Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, and the department of environmental protection.
28 The climate chief shall consider geographic diversity when making appointments to the
29Embodied Carbon Advisory Board.
30 (c) The office of climate innovation and resilience shall provide staffing support and
31funding to the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board, including sufficient funding for
32administration, research, legal assistance, public outreach, publications, a public website,
33consulting and other functions. 3 of 5
34 (d) The department, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and the
35Massachusetts climate chief shall conduct an assessment of the current state of professional
36literacy of embodied carbon and strategies to measure, monitor, and reduce embodied carbon
37across relevant industry practitioners, including but not limited to (i) structural engineers, (ii)
38electrical engineers (iii) mechanical engineers (iv) plumbing engineers, (v) architects, (vi)
39building inspectors, and (vii) general contractors. Following the assessment, the department, in
40consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and in collaboration with the division of
41professional licensure, shall provide recommendations for best approaches, including courses
42and certifications, to advance industry literacy.
43 (e) The department, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and the
44Massachusetts climate chief, shall establish guidelines and recommendations for best practices
45for industry entities to measure, track, and reduce emissions from embodied carbon of buildings.
46The Embodied Carbon Advisory Board may establish guidelines and recommendations for best
47practices for industry entities to measure, track, and reduce emissions from embodied carbon in
48infrastructure. The guidelines shall include best practices for conducting a life-cycle analysis of
49buildings and benchmarking emissions of new construction and renovation building projects as
50well as environmental product declarations for building materials.
51 (f) Notwithstanding any special or general law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the
52department shall incorporate provisions that advance the measurement and reduction of
53embodied carbon into the stretch energy code in appendix 115AA of the Massachusetts building
54energy code. 4 of 5
55 (g) The updates to the stretch code and specialized stretch energy code under section 6 of
56chapter 25A shall be developed, adopted, and incorporated as an appendix to the state building
57code on a timeline set by the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board in consultation with the
58department and in alignment with the conclusions drawn from the state of literacy assessment
59under subsection (d).
60 SECTION 2. Clause (14) of section 6 of chapter 25A of the General Laws is hereby
61amended by inserting after the words “net-zero building performance standards” the following
62words:- , the measurement and reduction of embodied carbon.
63 SECTION 3. (a) The members of the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board shall be
64appointed no later than 6 months after the effective date of this act.
65 (b) The guidelines and recommendations relative to embodied and operational carbon
66shall be issued by the department of energy resources no later than 1 year after the formation of
67the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board.
68 (c) No later than 1 year after the formation of the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board, the
69Massachusetts state climate chief, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board
70and the department, shall submit a report to the clerks of the house of representatives and the
71senate detailing the best policy mechanisms to measure, monitor, and reduce embodied carbon
72across all building types in the Commonwealth. This report shall consider interactions between
73embodied carbon and operational carbon to ensure policy recommendations to reduce embodied
74carbon also contribute to the reduction of operational carbon. This report shall include the best
75approaches to integrate the reduction of embodied carbon into the Massachusetts state building
76code, including the stretch and specialized stretch energy code as under section 96 of chapter 143 5 of 5
77of the General Laws and state amendments to the International Building Code sections. This
78report shall further include best practices to incentivize and enhance the re-use of building
79materials and decrease building demolition, where beneficial.