Microsoft, Carbon Direct Set Standards for Environmental Certificates in Low-Carbon Concrete and Steel

Key Impact Points

• Concrete and steel account for 13% of global CO₂ emissions, underscoring the urgency of supply-chain decarbonization.
• Science-based criteria define robust additionality, verification, and safeguards for high-quality environmental attribute certificates (EACs).
• The guide aims to catalyze market transformation by enabling credible EAC procurement when direct low-carbon sourcing is constrained.

Carbon Direct, in collaboration with Microsoft, today released a first-of-its-kind guide outlining science-based criteria for high-quality environmental attribute certificates (EACs) in the concrete and steel sectors. The criteria address scope 3 emissions from embodied carbon and seek to shape a credible market for low-carbon building materials.

Embodied Carbon Challenge

Concrete and steel account for approximately 13% of global CO₂ emissions, making their decarbonization a critical climate priority. Companies expanding their physical footprints must address rising scope 3 emissions from embodied carbon in commodity materials.

Market-Based Solution

Environmental attribute certificates offer an innovative, market-based approach by separating the procurement of environmental benefits from physical supply chains. They allow companies to secure climate impact through multi-year contracts when direct sourcing of low-carbon materials faces financing, supply, or geographic constraints.

Defining High-Quality EACs

The criteria require that EACs only be used when material with significant sustainability benefits cannot be directly procured in sufficient quantity within a project’s physical supply chain. They also demand robust additionality—ensuring projects go beyond efficiency savings, subsidized upgrades, and regulatory requirements—alongside stringent social and environmental safeguards, independent verification, traceability, and leakage mitigation.

Driving Impact

“EACs have the potential to address a number of the most critical challenges to scaling deep decarbonization solutions, not least by providing financial certainty. By setting a high bar for EACs, we’re ensuring that our investments drive real, additional, and scalable emissions reductions as we invite the industry to join us in shaping a credible, high-impact market for low-carbon building materials,” said Julia Fidler, Fuel and Materials Decarbonization Lead, Microsoft.

Catalyzing Market Transformation

“To decarbonize the world’s largest supply chains, we need solutions that are both ambitious and credible. These first-of-their-kind criteria set a quality bar for environmental attribute certificates so that every EAC transaction can drive real, additional, and verifiable emissions reductions in concrete and steel,” said Dr. Meera Atreya, Director of Decarbonization Science & European Advisory, Carbon Direct.

Next Steps

Building on their 2021 collaboration on carbon dioxide removal guidance, Carbon Direct and Microsoft will review and update the EAC criteria regularly to reflect advances in technology, data, and market conditions.

Related Article: Microsoft Secures Ocean-Based Carbon Removal Deal with Ebb Carbon