Ann Arbor’s Low-Carbon Playbook for Building Products
Ann Arbor, Michigan quietly passed a 2021 resolution that tells its architects, engineers and contractors to pick materials with the lightest carbon backpacks. It stopped short of a hard mandate, yet any supplier hoping to win city work now faces a simple question: can you prove your concrete, steel or panel beats the baseline?
What the Resolution Really Says
Ann Arbor’s Council finished a late-night meeting on December 6 2021 by voting for R-21-449, a resolution "to encourage and accelerate the use of low embodied carbon building materials in construction" (City of Ann Arbor, 2021). It directs city staff to:
- Create criteria for choosing low-carbon materials on municipal projects when cost and safety allow.
- Publish a resource guide for local developers.
- Report each year on projects that hit the target. No fines, no inspectors—yet the signal is clear. Future city libraries, fire stations, even sidewalks will ask suppliers for hard numbers on kilograms of CO₂ per cubic yard or square foot.
Why Manufacturers Everywhere Should Pay Attention
Policies rarely stay inside city limits. Portland’s Clean Air Construction standard spread across eight Oregon jurisdictions in four years. Chicago, Madison and Toronto planners have already phoned Ann Arbor staff for copies of the language, according to meeting minutes from May 2025. If your spec sheet still lists only compressive strength and price, you risk slipping off short-lists in a whole region.
Low Embodied Carbon Means Measurable Carbon
The resolution never names Environmental Product Declarations, but its criteria must rely on cradle-to-gate data. EPDs are the sudoku solution: one page shows global warming potential for A1–A3, easy to compare, third-party verified. WorldGBC warns that upfront embodied emissions will consume half the carbon budget for new construction between now and 2050 (WorldGBC, 2024). Municipal engineers need a quick filter; EPDs give them that.
Concrete, Steel and Mass Timber Take Center Stage
AIA Huron Valley’s 2021 task force flagged cement and structural steel as the city’s heaviest hitters. Swapping 40 percent slag cement in a typical sidewalk pour can cut embodied CO₂ by roughly 30 percent (SMI Task Force, 2023). Plate steel that includes even 50 percent scrap drops its footprint in half versus basic oxygen furnace output. Mass-timber boosters smell opportunity, but they still must show sustainable forestry data.
The ROI: Being First in the Door
City capital spending averages $90 million a year. Winning one mid-size civic job—say a $12 million community center—can introduce your product to every GC in Washtenaw County. Bidders short on EPDs will have to justify exceptions line by line, slowing estimates. Teams with ready declarations glide through pre-bid reviews, shaving days off calendars, a sneaky edge when margins are thin.
Data Collection, the Hidden Pain Point
Most delays in drafting EPDs come from hunting utility bills, scrap logs and transport miles across plants. That admin drag steals hours from the plant engineer whose actual job is keeping line uptime above 98 percent. Outsourcing the grunt work to a firm that offers white-glove data gathering sidesteps the slog and gets the declaration stamped months faster becaus no one is stuck chasing spreadsheets.
Keep an Eye on Copy-Cat Codes
Boston’s Zero Net Carbon zoning text slated for a January 2026 vote lifts phrasing straight from Ann Arbor. Denver’s Green Building Ordinance review panel put embodied carbon on its August 2025 agenda. Early movers lock in preferred-supplier status before queues form at verification bodies.
Building Momentum Worth Watching
Ann Arbor’s resolution may read like a polite suggestion today. In practice it is a dress rehearsal for binding limits that architects call "carbon budgets". Manufacturers that bank the data now will treat the next ordinance as routine paperwork, not a fire drill. The city that gave us indie rock and Zingerman’s is tuning up a new soundtrack—low-carbon riffs that will play nationwide soon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Ann Arbor’s resolution legally force suppliers to provide an EPD?
Not yet; the text only "encourages" using low-embodied-carbon products. In practice, project teams lean on EPDs because they are the fastest way to prove compliance.
Will the city accept global or European EPD formats such as EN 15804?
Yes, as long as the declaration is third-party verified and shows cradle-to-gate impacts in metric units. Converting to TRACI impact categories is straightforward.
How much extra cost does low-carbon concrete add?
Local ready-mix plants report premiums of 0–4 percent for blends with 30 percent SCMs. Price swings with cement index prices, so quoting early is key (SMI Task Force, 2023).
Do small-batch products like custom façades need an EPD?
If the material makes up a notable share of project mass or cost, engineers may flag it. Product-specific EPDs are becoming common even for niche items because the competitive gap widens without one.
How long does an EPD stay valid?
Five years in the US market. After that it must be updated with fresh production data, but you keep the original document live until the revision posts.
About the Author
John brings a clear, research-driven perspective on the EPD, LCA and HPD space and keeps a close pulse on environmental trends and standards in North America, helping clients understand where the industry is heading and how to get there.
