Since the launch of the 2030 Challenge by Architecture 2030 nearly 20 years ago, the design industry has seen related challenges and associated industry commitment programs that now span nearly every design discipline (see the MEP 2040 article from last August). While most have been catalyzed by practitioners and non-industry organizations, a few have found adoption within their respective industry associations.
The Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment Program (SE 2050) – a project of the the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers – is the second such commitment program (after AIA’s 2030 Commitment) to be embraced by a major design industry organization, coordinating action across the structural engineering profession to achieve the globally stated goal of net zero carbon by 2050. I asked Luke Lombardi and Lauren Wingo, co-chairs of the SE 2050 Leadership Group, to describe the program and discuss opportunities for multidisciplinary collaboration.
Vincent Martinez (VM): Given my background in structural engineering, I was intrigued by the emergence of the SE 2050 initiative. When I started work in the field there really wasn’t a pathway for structural engineers to engage in climate action. Now it seems as though embodied carbon is at the forefront of built environment climate action, and structural engineers are key. Can you provide some background on how this program began and its objectives?
Luke Lombardi (LL): Historically, structural engineers were somewhat sidelined in sustainability conversations. It wasn’t until the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF) began emphasizing “embodied carbon” that this started to change. As we make significant strides towards building efficiency and cleaning up the grid, our focus shifted to emissions from manufacturing materials like cement and steel--which now can be more significant than building lifetime operational emissions. That’s where SE 2050 comes in.
In 2019, the CLF challenged structural engineers to address this critical issue. In response, a group of passionate volunteers established SE 2050, aiming to reach net-zero embodied carbon in structures by 2050 while empowering engineers to take immediate action.
Nearly six years later, SE 2050 has become a leading industry movement for structural sustainability across firms. While our long-term goal remains reaching net-zero embodied carbon structures by 2050, our focus right now is educating and empowering engineers to grab a seat at the sustainability table and take agency to act today.
Excerpt from SE 2050 Annual Report (2024)
VM: What are some of the program's biggest accomplishments so far?
Lauren Wingo (LW): We are most proud of the impact the program has had through our Signatory Firms. Over 130 firms actively submit Embodied Carbon Action Plans and report data annually. These firms are answering the call for change and driving systemic impact with their commitment to the program. Firms are educating their staff, tracking project impacts, setting reduction targets, and advocating for the importance of addressing the embodied carbon of structural systems. Collectively, these firms have contributed to the most comprehensive repository of structural embodied carbon data in the US - enabling extensive data analysis that provides useful insights to the industry. Through these efforts, we’ve seen a shift in the structural engineering industry towards a broader understanding of embodied carbon and lower carbon design practices.
Excerpt from 2023 Executive Summary of Data Analysis Report (Structure only, A1-A5, excl. biogenic carbon)
VM: How does SE 2050 collaborate with other disciplines’ commitment programs and data collection?
LW: So much is rapidly changing in the embodied carbon space and SE 2050 has made collaboration a priority. As more programs like SE 2050, AIA 2030, and MEP 2040 collect carbon data, it is essential to align our efforts. That’s why we joined the ECHO Project when it started in March 2023 and have contributed our efforts towards a harmonized data schema. At the same time, structural engineers haven’t had clear guidance on appropriately quantifying embodied carbon for data collection. The SEI Sustainability Committee, acknowledging this gap, has been working for the past two years on developing a pre-standard to change that. The adoption of this pre-standard will help improve the quality of data collected by SE 2050 and support our goal of developing structural embodied carbon benchmarks.
VM: If we equate the strategies of reducing embodied carbon to those we’ve successfully applied in reducing operating emissions it would seem that material efficiency is the equivalent of energy efficiency and specifying low-carbon materials is like renewable energy -- lowering the emissions of the supply.
Architects and even policymakers -- think Buy Clean policies -- seem to see the latter as their main purview, but could you talk about how architects can support structural engineering in addressing material efficiency in their designs?
LL: I love this analogy and I think it’s a very important question. We are in the midst of unprecedented change the magnitude of which necessitates unprecedented collaboration. What we have is an opportunity for architects and structural engineers to come together as partners to address the collective problem of climate change. We’re talking about shifting culture and recentering societal priorities like safety, resilience, health, and equity.
You put your finger squarely on a point of contention, which is, some actions, like installing solar or buying low-carbon concrete, look a lot like what we already do. It’s comfortable--and often doesn’t even need to cost more. But the problem is, we know these actions only get us part of the way there. Buy Clean will only achieve about a 9 to 16 percent reduction for traditional concrete and steel systems, when we’re targeting 50 percent by 2030.
VM: So what does it take to get to where we need to be?
LL: Similar to energy efficiency, material efficiency can have a significantly greater impact than material procurement alone with technical solutions available today. Specifically, we’re talking about leveraging strategic design choices such as adaptive reuse, reducing structural spans, using natural building materials, or reusing products like steel beams altogether. Solutions that don’t need new research or the lead time of building manufacturing facilities. Not only that, but they better address long-term issues of resource consumption, waste, public health, and equity.
Snapshot from Material Efficiency Webinar | CLF and SE2050
Of course, like energy efficiency, it hasn’t been technical barriers that are stopping implementation. We’re often fighting rigid project constraints that shape the massing, cost, and client expectations, and project timelines that don’t even give us time to think. That’s why we need to band together. The vernacular of our era needs to be climate conscientious. I want an architect to walk in with a shirt that says, “Columns for Carbon!”
Also, I think we are starting to see the mainstreaming of reuse with architects being celebrated for designing with what’s available, and we’ve all seen the really cool and creative adaptive reuse projects that have been popping up.
VM: It's estimated that reusing and retrofitting buildings saves 50 to 75 percent of the embodied carbon that would be emitted by constructing similar new buildings, especially when the carbon intensive parts of the building – the structure and envelope – are reused. Yet we know that many existing buildings require structural retrofitting. What focus is SE 2050 putting on existing building retrofit? In the same vein, circularity and material reuse are promising and challenging. Where do you see the most opportunity for structural material reuse?
LL: Existing buildings represent a huge opportunity from a business perspective. In 2022, architectural billings for renovation exceeded that of new construction. These buildings hold cultural significance and represent a carbon investment. They also represent a legacy of inefficient buildings that need retrofit for energy as well as earthquake performance in some places. We certainly see Signatories leveraging creative solutions for adaptive reuse as a strategy toward decarbonization by avoiding new construction.
It’s also important to acknowledge that the anticipated growth in construction over the next 25 years is not likely to be met through building reuse alone and that new construction will be necessary. To build this new construction near or at net zero will require innovative design strategies to incorporate reused components and avoid new material productions. Structural engineers are already recognizing circular design as a key embodied carbon reduction strategy, and are working to address the challenges of adoption. One of our Signatory Firms, KL&A, was part of a project that successfully deconstructed and stockpiled steel members from a hospital building, some of which were reused for a new fire station.
We expect to see broader material reuse become a key embodied carbon reduction strategy that designers increasingly explore on projects, encouraged by deconstruction policies and initiatives like the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Circular Design and Construction Guidelines. Hosting a circular design workshop with the project team, including the structural engineer, at the beginning stage of a project is key to creating these opportunities.
VM: SEI’s Sustainability Committee just held their first annual sustainability symposium, the North American Structural Engineering Sustainability Symposium, on February 5. What were the outcomes of the symposium and your call to action?
LL: Well, I think we’re seeing some cultural plate tectonics in the structural engineering industry. In the past, it’s been hard to even mention the word climate, and to have the support of SEI and the interest of engineers really speaks to the changing sentiment on the topic.
The call to action was from our prestigious keynote Kate Simonen, Board Chair of CLF and leader of the Life Cycle Lab at the University of Washington. Similar to her call to structural engineers that sparked SE 2050, she urged attendees to consider what impact they want to have on embodied carbon and emphasized the importance of each person’s role from the impatience of youth, the persistence of middle age, and the wisdom of our most seasoned practitioners.
We’re looking to build on the momentum throughout the year. Check out our booth at Structures Congress in April! We’ll also be part of an AIA 2030/MEP 2040/SE 2050 panel at the AIA25 Conference on Architecture in Boston in June, and we are planning the second year of SEI’s “Towards Zero Carbon 2025: Summit & Symposium” in Boulder, Colorado, this summer. The Signatory Summit portion of that event is going to be the first time we officially bring committed firms together in-person.
We go farther -- and faster -- together. Readers, inviting your structural engineer to the design for sustainability discussion will yield stronger outcomes for clients and communities. Thank you in advance!
The views and conclusions from this author are not necessarily those of ARCHITECT magazine.
Luke Lombardi is co-chair of SE 2050, co-lead of the CLF-LA hub, and a Senior Consultant with Buro Happold. He leverages his background as a structural engineer to bring together various built environment perspectives to collaborate on the topic of embodied carbon and material sourcing.
Lauren Wingo is co-chair of SE 2050 and an Associate with Arup’s Climate & Sustainability team where she supports clients at the building and portfolio level in reducing the climate impacts of the built environment.
