AECOM, a global leader in infrastructure and professional services, is committed to delivering a better world through sustainable and resilient solutions. In partnership with One Click LCA, AECOM leveraged advanced carbon modeling tools to help the City of Montréal integrate climate goals into the earliest stages of planning for a transformative urban mobility project.
One Click LCA played a pivotal role in embedding sustainability into this project by providing actionable insights early in the design process. Using its Carbon Designer 3D tool alongside other building and infrastructures tools, we modeled life cycle greenhouse gas emissions for major components — including buildings, an overpass, roads, and a park — across the production, construction, use, and end-of-life phases.
— Jérémy Lagneau, ESG and Decarbonization Advisor at AECOM
When the City of Montréal launched a pilot project to redevelop a major transportation corridor and surrounding district, its vision was clear: create a low carbon, climate-resilient neighborhood aligned with the city’s Climate Plan 2020–2030 and Land Use and Mobility Plan 2050. Over a five-year horizon, the project included a new overpass, mixed-use buildings, improved mobility infrastructure, and a park designed for people-centered living.
To achieve these goals, the city engaged AECOM to compare and evaluate two preliminary design scenarios with three core goals:
Lower the overall carbon footprint through life cycle analysis of key components, such as buildings, roads, and public spaces.
Strengthen climate resilience by understanding how infrastructure can adapt to future climate conditions.
Support informed decision-making through data-driven recommendations that align with the city's climate and mobility plans.
Since the project was still in the pre-design phase, detailed specifications and Bills of Materials were not available. The city needed reliable carbon estimates to compare two different design concepts, understand carbon interactions between infrastructure and buildings, and ensure the design direction aligned with its climate, urban, and mobility objectives — all before final designs were completed.
AECOM integrated One Click LCA's Carbon Designer 3D tool directly into its ScopeXTM decarbonization workflow, unlocking three critical capabilities :
The analysis revealed that embodied carbon represented the largest share of emissions, but its magnitude varied significantly by design choice. This insight led to targeted recommendations, including optimized concrete mixes, increased use of recycled steel, and inclusion of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs).
The modeling approach identified a series of hotspots across the wider scheme, which were then targeted for decarbonization. Scenario modeling showed that seemingly subtle design decisions, such as adjusting roadway width or optimizing the overpass structural configuration, could yield meaningful carbon reductions. These insights informed key decisions early in the design process that supported both decarbonization and cost efficiency.
The City of Montréal embraced the findings, confident in the methodology and ready to advance to the next phase of work. The whole life carbon analysis not only helped the City compare design options but also provided a strategic roadmap for designing more sustainably as planning progressed.
This project demonstrates how early-stage carbon modeling can transform infrastructure planning. By integrating AECOM’s ScopeX™ approach with One Click LCA’s tools, sustainability became a driver instead of an afterthought. Together, AECOM and One Click LCA helped the City of Montréal reduce uncertainty, strengthen climate alignment, and make better-informed decisions at the moment of greatest influence and least cost.
AECOM is the global infrastructure leader, committed to delivering a better world. As a trusted professional services firm powered by deep technical abilities, we solve our clients’ complex challenges in water, environment, energy, transportation, and buildings. Our teams partner with public- and private-sector clients to create innovative, sustainable, and resilient solutions throughout the project lifecycle — from advisory, planning, and design to engineering and program and construction management. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm that had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2024.
One Click LCA is the world’s largest life cycle assessment (LCA) platform, delivering impact, compliance, and growth in +170 countries. It brings together the in-depth modelling capabilities of SimaPro with the ease-of-use and scalability of One Click LCA. The platform includes the most comprehensive global LCA database, with +500,000 datasets, and serves customers across manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, chemicals, and consumer goods supply chains, among others. One Click LCA is committed to powering one-million makers of a zero-carbon future by 2035 for an impact at a planetary scale. Learn more at: oneclicklca.com