Evanston’s CARP: What Manufacturers Need to Know
Evanston just turned its climate plan into sharper building rules. If your products end up in projects north of Chicago, EPDs can decide whether you’re the easy yes or the hard maybe. Here’s the short version of what CARP and the city’s new policies mean for spec wins, timelines, and the paperwork that buyers actually ask for.
CARP in one page
Evanston’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan targets carbon neutrality by 2050, zero waste by 2050, and 100% renewable electricity by 2030. Buildings are the main lever, responsible for the lion’s share of emissions the city tracks under CARP (City of Evanston, 2025). In fact, 80% of local greenhouse gas emissions come from existing buildings, which is why policy attention sits on energy, performance, and transparency (City of Evanston, 2025).
Why this affects your specs
For city‑owned, city‑financed, commercial, and multifamily projects above 10,000 square feet, Evanston’s Green Building Ordinance requires LEED Gold or equivalent third‑party certification. That pushes design teams to select products with product‑specific, third‑party verified EPDs to secure material credits and avoid default penalties on carbon accounting (City of Evanston, 2025). If your EPD is missing, you’re asking teams to do extra math on your behalf. They wont.
Stretch code and a new Building Performance Standard
Evanston adopted the Illinois Stretch Energy Code, designed to be 40% to 50% more efficient than baseline, with an average homeowner saving about $250 per year and a 10 to 11 year payback for upgrades beginning October 1, 2025 (City of Evanston, 2025). City Council also approved the Healthy Buildings Ordinance on March 10, 2025, applying performance standards to large buildings and phasing in energy and emissions targets over time (City of Evanston, 2025). The policy covers roughly 500 of the largest buildings in town (MEEA, 2025) that account for over 53% of citywide emissions, so owners are motivated to choose lower‑carbon materials when they renovate or re‑skin envelopes (Illinois Green Alliance, 2025).
Embodied carbon enters the chat
The EPA awarded $3.887 million to Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse to develop data and EPDs for salvaged construction materials, a clear signal that local players are investing in the embodied side of the equation (US EPA, 2024). When reuse gets quantified with EPDs, spec teams can count real impacts rather than rough assumptions.
What a compliant EPD looks like here
Product‑specific, third‑party verified, aligned to the right PCR, and published with a recognized program operator. Teams in the US frequently use Smart EPD, and European projects often cite IBU, yet the operator is less important than clarity, comparability, and completeness. A good LCA partner will scan competitor EPDs, select the dominant PCR, and plan renewals so expiries never collide with bid weeks.
Sales math that actually matters
Evanston’s combo of LEED requirements, a stretch code, and a building performance standard compresses buyer choice toward products that prove impacts on paper. An EPD is not a trophy. It is a fast lane through submittals, variance reviews, and value engineering conversations that drag on when data is missing. Speed wins when the owner wants a climate answer and the GC wants a clean closeout.
Execution, not heroics
Start with a clean data year for the plant, utilities, and scrap. Map SKUs to the PCR that competitors already use. Publish once the model is audit‑ready, then roll the same play across your top movers. If a new product is launching, a prospective EPD can bridge the gap, then update after a full year of production. Keep your renewal calendar next to your price book.
A local note on funding and momentum
Evanston’s Healthy Buildings page states the city will pursue performance standards regardless of federal funding, which keeps local momentum intact despite shifting national programs (City of Evanston, 2025). For manufacturers, that means local policy will keep rewarding credible EPDs whether or not federal incentives fluctuate.
Where this leaves you
CARP sets the destination. The stretch code and Healthy Buildings Ordinance set the speed limit. LEED on major projects sets the lane markers. Manufacturers that ship product‑specific EPDs, choose the right PCR, and make data collection painless are positioned to win more Evanston specs with fewer detours. It’s not about being the greenest on Instagram. It’s about being the easiest to document on the submittal stack.
Frequently Asked Questions
What requirements in Evanston directly increase demand for product-specific EPDs?
Projects above 10,000 square feet in several categories must achieve LEED Gold or equivalent, which makes third‑party verified, product‑specific EPDs a practical path to earn material credits and avoid conservative default assumptions in carbon accounting (City of Evanston, 2025).
What building types are covered by Evanston’s new Building Performance Standard?
Large buildings, generally over 20,000 square feet and approximately 500 properties citywide, with phased performance targets through 2050 (City of Evanston, 2025; MEEA, 2025).
When does Evanston’s Stretch Energy Code start affecting permits?
For projects submitting permit applications on or after October 1, 2025, with efficiency gains targeted at 40% to 50% above baseline and estimated homeowner savings of about $250 per year (City of Evanston, 2025).
About the Author
With a passion for sustainability and a love for complex data, Toby helps manufacturers efficiently collect data from across their organization and get their EPDs done right. He’s especially interested in how AI can support human expertise, helping R&D and factory teams work faster, smarter, and with less friction.
