Massachusetts 2023-2024 Regular Session

Massachusetts Senate Bill S2090 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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1	1	1 of 1
2	2	SENATE DOCKET, NO. 840 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
3	3	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2090
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	Joanne M. Comerford
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act incorporating embodied carbon into state climate policy.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Joanne M. ComerfordHampshire, Franklin and Worcester 1 of 5
16	16	SENATE DOCKET, NO. 840 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
17	17	SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 2090
18	18	By Ms. Comerford, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 2090) of Joanne M. Comerford
19	19	for legislation to incorporate embodied carbon into state climate policy. Telecommunications,
20	20	Utilities and Energy.
21	21	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
22	22	_______________
23	23	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
24	24	(2023-2024)
25	25	_______________
26	26	An Act incorporating embodied carbon into state climate policy.
27	27	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
28	28	of the same, as follows:
29	29	1 SECTION 1. Chapter 21N of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the
30	30	2following section:-
31	31	3 Section 12. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the
32	32	4following meanings:
33	33	5 “Department”, the department of energy resources.
34	34	6 “Embodied carbon”, the carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
35	35	7associated with materials and construction processes throughout the whole lifecycle of a building
36	36	8or infrastructure.
37	37	9 “Environmental product declaration” or “EPD”, a Type III environmental product
38	38	10declaration, as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard
39	39	1121930 and the relevant product category rule for each type of concrete product or a similarly 2 of 5
40	40	12robust life-cycle assessment method that conforms to ISO 21930 and the relevant product
41	41	13category rule for each type of concrete product.
42	42	14 “Life-cycle assessment” or “LCA”, an assessment that is used to calculate the
43	43	15environmental primary and secondary impacts of a product, service, or process, over the lifetime
44	44	16of that product, service, or process.
45	45	17 (b) The Massachusetts state climate chief, in consultation with the department, shall
46	46	18establish an Embodied Carbon Advisory Board. Members of the advisory board shall be
47	47	19appointed by the climate chief and shall include, but not be limited to: (i) 2 licensed professional
48	48	20engineers; (ii) 2 licensed registered architects; (iii) 2 representatives of the construction industry;
49	49	21(iv) 2 representatives of an accredited school of civil engineering; (v) 2 representatives from
50	50	22affordable housing organizations (vi) 1 representative from the Massachusetts Clean Energy
51	51	23Center; (vii) 1 representative from the Massachusetts Building Commissioners and Inspectors
52	52	24Association; (viii) 1 representative from the Board of Building Regulations and Standards and
53	53	25(ix) 1 representative each from the executive office of transportation, the executive office of
54	54	26housing and community development, the department of energy resources, the Division of
55	55	27Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, and the department of environmental protection.
56	56	28 The climate chief shall consider geographic diversity when making appointments to the
57	57	29Embodied Carbon Advisory Board.
58	58	30 (c) The office of climate innovation and resilience shall provide staffing support and
59	59	31funding to the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board, including sufficient funding for
60	60	32administration, research, legal assistance, public outreach, publications, a public website,
61	61	33consulting and other functions. 3 of 5
62	62	34 (d) The department, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and the
63	63	35Massachusetts climate chief shall conduct an assessment of the current state of professional
64	64	36literacy of embodied carbon and strategies to measure, monitor, and reduce embodied carbon
65	65	37across relevant industry practitioners, including but not limited to (i) structural engineers, (ii)
66	66	38electrical engineers (iii) mechanical engineers (iv) plumbing engineers, (v) architects, (vi)
67	67	39building inspectors, and (vii) general contractors. Following the assessment, the department, in
68	68	40consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and in collaboration with the division of
69	69	41professional licensure, shall provide recommendations for best approaches, including courses
70	70	42and certifications, to advance industry literacy.
71	71	43 (e) The department, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board and the
72	72	44Massachusetts climate chief, shall establish guidelines and recommendations for best practices
73	73	45for industry entities to measure, track, and reduce emissions from embodied carbon of buildings.
74	74	46The Embodied Carbon Advisory Board may establish guidelines and recommendations for best
75	75	47practices for industry entities to measure, track, and reduce emissions from embodied carbon in
76	76	48infrastructure. The guidelines shall include best practices for conducting a life-cycle analysis of
77	77	49buildings and benchmarking emissions of new construction and renovation building projects as
78	78	50well as environmental product declarations for building materials.
79	79	51 (f) Notwithstanding any special or general law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, the
80	80	52department shall incorporate provisions that advance the measurement and reduction of
81	81	53embodied carbon into the stretch energy code in appendix 115AA of the Massachusetts building
82	82	54energy code. 4 of 5
83	83	55 (g) The updates to the stretch code and specialized stretch energy code under section 6 of
84	84	56chapter 25A shall be developed, adopted, and incorporated as an appendix to the state building
85	85	57code on a timeline set by the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board in consultation with the
86	86	58department and in alignment with the conclusions drawn from the state of literacy assessment
87	87	59under subsection (d).
88	88	60 SECTION 2. Clause (14) of section 6 of chapter 25A of the General Laws is hereby
89	89	61amended by inserting after the words “net-zero building performance standards” the following
90	90	62words:- , the measurement and reduction of embodied carbon.
91	91	63 SECTION 3. (a) The members of the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board shall be
92	92	64appointed no later than 6 months after the effective date of this act.
93	93	65 (b) The guidelines and recommendations relative to embodied and operational carbon
94	94	66shall be issued by the department of energy resources no later than 1 year after the formation of
95	95	67the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board.
96	96	68 (c) No later than 1 year after the formation of the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board, the
97	97	69Massachusetts state climate chief, in consultation with the Embodied Carbon Advisory Board
98	98	70and the department, shall submit a report to the clerks of the house of representatives and the
99	99	71senate detailing the best policy mechanisms to measure, monitor, and reduce embodied carbon
100	100	72across all building types in the Commonwealth. This report shall consider interactions between
101	101	73embodied carbon and operational carbon to ensure policy recommendations to reduce embodied
102	102	74carbon also contribute to the reduction of operational carbon. This report shall include the best
103	103	75approaches to integrate the reduction of embodied carbon into the Massachusetts state building
104	104	76code, including the stretch and specialized stretch energy code as under section 96 of chapter 143 5 of 5
105	105	77of the General Laws and state amendments to the International Building Code sections. This
106	106	78report shall further include best practices to incentivize and enhance the re-use of building
107	107	79materials and decrease building demolition, where beneficial.