Grant Program: Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products

• What is Embodied Carbon?
• Inflation Reduction Act
• Grant Program
• Technical Assistance, Tools, Resources and Funding Opportunities 
• Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials

In support of Inflation Reduction Act Section 60112, the goal of this grant program is to support businesses that manufacture construction materials and products to develop and verify Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), and to states, Indian Tribes, and nonprofit organizations that will assist such businesses. This program seeks to improve transparency and disclosure of embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data associated with construction materials and products to facilitate the procurement of lower embodied carbon construction materials and products throughout the United States. Disclosure of embodied GHG emissions through the development of EPDs based on robust and comprehensive data will enable fair comparison of construction materials and products and facilitate procurement of these products with lower embodied greenhouse gas emissions.

New Selections for $160 Million in Grants

Under this program, EPA selected 38 businesses, universities and nonprofit organizations serving all 50 states to receive funding in fiscal year 2024. Selected projects fall under five broad categories:

• Robust Data for EPDs: Projects that contribute new and/or improve critical data, analysis, or feedback for producing robust EPDs.
• Robust Product Category Rule (PCR) Standard Development, PCRs, and Associated Conformity Assessment Systems: Projects that encourage the development of robust, standardized PCRs, including identifying what data needs to be collected for EPDs, how that data should be collected, how it should be reported in EPDs, and what transparency and verification needs to be in place to ensure credible EPDs.
• Robust Tools & Resources to Support & Incentivize Development and Verification of EPDs: Projects that contribute to the development of tools and resources to make it easier, faster, and more cost effective to produce and disclose robust EPDs.
• EPD Development and Verification: Projects that offer construction material and product manufacturers assistance in producing robust EPDs, or in which a construction material or product manufacturer is producing robust EPDs.
• Robust EPD Data Platforms and Integration: Projects that support EPD reporting, availability, and verification; support the standardization of disparate EPD systems; and support future EPD integration into construction design and procurement systems.

Read the July 16, 2024 press release.

Learn more about the selected projects. (pdf) (226.64 KB)

Grant Application Resources

• EPA Grants Management Training for Applicants and Recipients
• Pass Through FAQs Training for EPA Pass-Through Grant Applicants, Recipients and Subrecipients
• Notice of Funding Opportunity (pdf) (582.41 KB, November 2, 2023)  (Closed)
• Webinar presentation | Recording 
• Frequently Asked Questions on the Grant Program (pdf) (382.56 KB)
• EPA Grants Community Library of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)