Carbon transparency in construction

Carbon transparency in construction | One Click LCA

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Carbon transparency in construction is fast becoming a strategic advantage. Leading firms like Arcadis and Schneider Electric, alongside One Click LCA, embed carbon data into everyday decisions to meet stricter regulations and rising climate expectations. Transparent carbon metrics — supported by tools like One Click LCA and backed by EPDs and LCAs — enable stakeholders to act early, choose lower-impact materials, and achieve measurable carbon reductions. Carbon transparency drives competitive and environmental value as the construction sector shifts from sustainability storytelling to actionable insights.

Why carbon transparency matters

Tighter regulations and increasing climate risks make carbon transparency a requirement in construction. Life-cycle assessments (LCAs) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) can reflect a project’s and product’s environmental impact, respectively, but only when supported by accurate and accessible data.

According to One Click LCA’s 2025 Carbon Experts Report, 36% of manufacturers report significant data gaps across key materials, especially in concrete, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems, insulation, and steel. Without this information, it's hard to make informed decisions.

"To make good decisions, you need the right information. Carbon touches every part of a project — from materials to supply chains and cost. Transparent data allows us to benchmark and move from business-as-usual to best-in-class."

Mark McKenna, Global Sustainability Director, Arcadis

Carbon transparency is driven by the need to manage risk, respond to client requirements, and maintain market position, as well as regulations like the California Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (CCDAA). For companies that do business in or export to Europe, it is also required by regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and EU taxonomy.

Carbon transparency in construction

Why carbon transparency matters in construction — Expert insights from Arcadis, Schneider Electric, and One Click LCA.

Data-driven sustainability requires timing, access, and action

Sustainability efforts have often focused on storytelling. But progress depends on shifting toward measurable outcomes and verifiable performance.

Mark says clients expect consistent, data-driven decisions that reduce risk and support climate targets. This is increasing the demand for transparent carbon data across the full life cycle of products and projects.

Panu Pasanen, CEO and founder of One Click LCA, notes that carbon metrics only create impact when they lead to action. Effective carbon assessments depend on three conditions:

Timing — Data must be available early, before design and procurement choices are finalized.
Actionability — Insights should point to feasible, lower-impact alternatives.
Access to decision-makers — Information must reach those with authority to implement change.

Global LCA data: One Click LCA’s global database helps you make more informed material and design choices across project stages.

Decarbonization can deliver both environmental and business value

One Click LCA’s 2025 Carbon Experts Report shows that more than half of AEC professionals generate revenue from LCA services. Others use LCAs to strengthen internal processes or improve their service offerings. With access to better data and tools, sustainability delivers measurable financial and environmental returns.

“At Schneider Electric, we see sustainability as a transformation — like digitalization or AI. The impact depends on how well-informed your decisions are.”

Sorouch Kheradmand, Global Head of Sustainability Partnerships, Schneider Electric

Making carbon data part of everyday decisions

Schneider Electric’s approach

Schneider Electric has built sustainability into its core operations. The company has invested in digitizing environmental data for its products and making it easy to use with tools like One Click LCA. A key focus is MEP systems, where EPDs are often missing. By sharing product data early in the design process, Schneider Electric helps customers lower both emissions and energy costs.

“We’re actively going after how our solutions help reduce energy bills and carbon footprints — tangibly, measurably, and replicably.”

Sorouch Kheradmand, Global Head of Sustainability, Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric has invested heavily in digitizing its product portfolio's environmental data and prioritizing interoperability with platforms like One Click LCA. This integration ensures designers, engineers, and specifiers can access EPDs directly within their tools, without friction. In doing so, the company also addressed a major industry challenge: the significant lack of environmental data for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems. By making detailed environmental information on Schneider Electric products readily accessible to decision-makers, they support more accurate whole-building impact assessments — starting from the early design stages. To sum up, Schneider Electric is helping users see, in clear and practical terms, how better design and management of projects and assets can lead to real savings on energy costs and meaningful cuts in carbon emissions.

MEP data: Schneider Electric’s EPDs are now exclusively on One Click LCA — the largest-ever release for electrical systems, boosting global MEP data access.

Arcadis’ approach

With over 30,000 projects globally, Arcadis knows its biggest impact comes from the outcomes it delivers for clients — not just its own operations. That’s why carbon data is a core part of Arcadis’s “Planet Positive Future” strategy. Instead of restricting LCA skills to specialist teams, Arcadis is training more of its staff to use carbon data in their day-to-day roles. This approach helps Arcadis include carbon decisions throughout the design and delivery process.

“Our goal is to develop more people who include carbon analysis as part of their role — not build more isolated teams. That’s why we use One Click LCA — because it’s accessible enough for generalists, but robust enough for our experts.”

Mark McKenna, Global Sustainability Director, Arcadis

Case study: Arcadis infrastructure project targets 30% carbon reduction from baseline with One Click LCA.

Making carbon data accessible at every project stage

One of the biggest challenges in decarbonizing construction is ensuring sustainable design choices are carried through to delivery. Too often, carbon data is either kept in silos or withheld over concerns about intellectual property.

Arcadis keeps supply chain data consistent and usable across all project phases — especially on large, international projects. Their goal is to ensure that what’s designed matches what gets built, which depends on open data sharing from manufacturers like Schneider Electric.

At Schneider Electric, the limits of static formats became clear early on. “We realized that asking specifiers to download PDFs from a website wasn’t suitable,” says Sorouch. “Data has to be embedded in the tools people already use.” By integrating with One Click LCA, Schneider Electric makes its environmental data accessible to designers and builders — supporting low-carbon decisions from the start.

Arcadis and Schneider Electric collaborate across projects and industry forums to close gaps between design, data, and delivery. Mark emphasizes the need for action over discussion, while Sorouch highlights how joint work helps refine solutions. By combining Arcadis’ project delivery expertise with Schneider Electric’s technical data, they help clients make more informed, lower-carbon decisions.

Scaling carbon impact with data and digital tools

One Click LCA’s 2025 Carbon Experts Report shows that over 60% of AEC firms and 70% of manufacturers plan to grow their LCA teams. However, with limited expert capacity, digital tools are essential to meet demand.

“An experienced LCA expert can handle 500 projects instead of 100 if the tools support them better.”

Panu Pasanen, CEO and founder, One Click LCA.

Schneider Electric started building its environmental data systems during the COVID-19 pandemic, responding to growing investor pressure on climate risk. The focus was on making carbon data useful — both for customers and for internal decision-making. Arcadis is prioritizing usability by adopting One Click LCA for its simple interface, which enables both generalists and specialists to work effectively with carbon data.

Free training: One Click LCA Academy aims to bridge the green skills gap by educating one million experts in low-carbon construction by 2030.

AI-powered sustainability software for data-driven decisions

One Click LCA makes carbon data accessible and usable across the construction and manufacturing sectors. One Click LCA standardizes data formats and ensures information can be applied directly in specifications and procurement.

The platform includes the world’s largest construction LCA database — with over 300,000 verified and ready-to-use datasets. This allows users to work with accurate, up-to-date information to support compliance, design optimization, and carbon reduction.

Tools like Materials Compass integrate manufacturer data from companies like Schneider Electric to support easy, consistent product comparisons based on carbon performance, benchmarks, or other environmental criteria.

For design and construction teams, One Click LCA helps compare design options, select lower-impact materials, and support net-zero and circular targets. It integrates with 20+ BIM tools and supports 80+ building certifications and regulatory compliance.

For manufacturers, the platform supports the creation, verification, and publication of EPDs, as well as product carbon footprint assessments. It helps meet regulatory and client demands — and makes sustainability performance measurable and visible in the marketplace.