On July 16, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the selection of 38 grant recipients across the country, totaling nearly $160 million, to support efforts to report and reduce climate pollution from the manufacturing of construction materials and products. EPA estimates that the construction materials used in buildings and other built infrastructure account for more than 15 percent of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.
Billions of tons of concrete, asphalt, steel, glass and other construction materials and products are required to build, maintain and operate our country’s buildings and infrastructure. The U.S. leads the world in the production of clean construction materials, and these transformative awards from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history—will reduce climate pollution by helping businesses measure the carbon emissions associated with extracting, transporting and manufacturing their products.
The grants will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the U.S. government’s sway as the largest purchaser on Earth to catalyze demand for clean construction materials used in federal buildings, highways, and infrastructure projects. The grants will be awarded to businesses, universities and nonprofit organizations serving all 50 states and will help disclose the environmental impacts associated with manufacturing concrete, asphalt, glass, steel, wood and other materials.
“As America continues to build more and upgrade our nation’s infrastructure under President Biden’s leadership, cleaner construction materials like concrete and steel are increasingly essential for the nation’s prosperity,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. “These historic investments will expand market access for a new generation of more climate-friendly construction materials, and further grow American jobs that are paving the way to the clean energy economy.”
“President Biden and Vice President Harris are leading the most ambitious climate and clean energy agenda in U.S. history and building a sustainable future using safer materials for the environment and for communities,” said White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory. “By leveraging the U.S. Government’s purchasing power, President Biden is ensuring that American manufacturing is positioned to compete and lead globally, while catalyzing markets and accelerating innovation across the country.”
“I fought to include funding for urgently-needed clean construction and manufacturing initiatives in the historic Inflation Reduction Act because it is a win-win that will increase jobs and reduce deadly carbon pollution that is driving climate change,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “With industrial sector emissions a top culprit of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions this decade, we must do everything we can to support innovators and job-creators in clean construction materials and manufacturing – that is why today’s announcement from EPA is so exciting and important to us, our children, and future generations.”
“Investing in low-carbon construction materials is an essential part of our work to address climate change,” said Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “This funding will create markets for American manufacturers making cleaner materials and help companies better understand and communicate the environmental impacts of their products. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, EPA is making American industry more competitive on the global stage while reducing climate pollution and supporting good-paying jobs.”
“We are building a clean energy future in America down to the materials we use, and it’s thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Senator Tina Smith (D-MN). “Enabling our businesses to showcase their clean construction materials will open opportunities for more jobs, lower energy costs and create a cleaner environment. The more America leads in the clean energy transition, the more our economy benefits, and the more opportunities come our way.”
“This new federal funding from the Environmental Protection Agency will go a long way toward reducing carbon emissions here in Virginia’s 10th District and making local construction cleaner and more environmentally friendly,” said Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA-10). I want to thank EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe for coming to VA-10 today to highlight the impact this investment will have for our community. I’m proud that our work in Washington is building a more sustainable future for our children.”
Deputy EPA Administrator Janet McCabe announced the grant selections today at Superior Paving, an asphalt facility in Chantilly, Virginia, alongside Richard Willis, PhD, Vice President for Engineering, Research, & Technology at the National Asphalt Pavement Association, and additional federal and industry leaders.
Ranging from $250,000 to $10 million, the grants will help businesses develop robust, high-quality environmental product declarations (EPDs), which show environmental impacts across the life of a product and can catalyze more sustainable purchasing decisions by allowing buyers to compare products. Investments in data and tools will make high-quality EPDs available for 14 material categories, which include both new and salvaged or reused materials. These efforts will help standardize and expand the market for construction products with lower greenhouse gas emissions. They will make it easier for federal, state and local governments and other institutional buyers to ensure the construction projects they fund use more climate-friendly products and materials.
The grant selections include a diverse range of projects to help measure and ultimately reduce greenhouse gases. For example:
- A company in Georgia will receive funding to report the emissions savings gained by switching from higher-carbon components in cement and concrete to recycled and innovative materials.
- A project in Maine will help a company that manufactures insulation made from wood fiber track the quantity of energy and raw materials used in each of their processes.
- A project in Illinois will help a nonprofit organization that sells reused architectural materials measure how much the salvaged materials reduce carbon emissions.
- A large insulation manufacturer based in Indiana will use grant funding to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions for their full product portfolio.
- A major university will use grant funds to research and document carbon emissions savings from reusing structural steel.
- Several projects will support workforce development to grow the number of sustainable construction professionals available to support these important efforts.
EPA is also announcing expanded technical assistance opportunities to businesses, the federal government and other organizations across America. EPA will initially offer EPD development support and direct businesses to resources to help them measure and reduce the embodied carbon associated with their materials, such as those provided by the ENERGY STAR Industrial program. Federal agencies and their suppliers will be able to compare the climate impact of various materials to drive near-term greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Robust EPD data will be further strengthened by a new label program under development that will identify low carbon construction materials for the growing Buy Clean marketplace.
Together, the grants and technical assistance programs will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support American jobs. These programs are made possible by the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which creates significant investments aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the extraction, transport and manufacturing of construction materials and products. In support of the Federal Buy Clean Initiative, the Inflation Reduction Act also provides more than $2 billion to the General Services Administration to use low embodied carbon materials in the construction and renovation of federal buildings and $2 billion to the Federal Highway Administration to incentivize or reimburse the use of low embodied carbon construction materials in certain transportation projects.
Selections are contingent upon completion of legal and administrative requirements and grantees are tentatively expected to receive their funding in late summer.
Read summaries of proposed grantee projects.
Organizations selected for funding:
Aluminum Extruders Council
American Center for Life Cycle Assessment
American Wood Council
Atlas Roofing Corporation
Belter Tech Inc.
Building Materials Re-Use Association
Collaborative Composite Solutions Corporation
Cornell University
EIFS Industry Members Association
Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse
Global Bamboo Technologies Inc.
GO Lab Inc.
Heidelberg Materials US Inc.
Hemp Building Institute
Holcim U.S. Inc.
International Code Council
International Living Future Institute
Knauf Insulation Inc.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
National Asphalt Pavement Association
National Glass Association
National Ready-Mixed Concrete Association
National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association
Oklahoma State University
Oldcastle Infrastructure Inc.
Pioneer Millworks
Portland Cement Association
Prestressed Concrete Institute
Rochester Institute of Technology
Scrap Tire Research and Education Foundation
The Research Foundation for the State University of New York
The University of Texas at Austin
Tile Council of North America
University of Kentucky Research Foundation
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Mississippi
University of Washington
West Virginia University Research Corporation
Learn more about EPA’s Grant Program for Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gases in Construction Materials and Products.
