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.
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.
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:
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
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.
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
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.
“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.