Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, along with George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, Province of British Columbia, and Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of Natural Resources, State of California, announced at COP26 in Glasgow the formation of a new regional task force to reduce embodied carbon in construction materials.

This makes the Pacific Coast Collaborative, which includes California, Oregon, Washington, the Province of British Columbia, and the cities of Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles, the largest region or country in the world to clearly signal to the market growing demand for low-carbon materials, which will help accelerate innovation and investment and grow new economic opportunity.

After the announcement, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Washington State Policy Coordinator Jessica Koski:

“Just three materials—concrete, steel, and aluminum—account for nearly one-quarter of the global carbon footprint, and most of this is used in the built environment. The Pacific Coast Collaborative’s leadership and commitment to accelerating the production and use of low-carbon building materials is a critical step in guaranteeing that, as a region, we stay on a path of net-zero emissions by 2050 and do our part to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

In order to ensure our state leads this important work, the BlueGreen Alliance looks forward to engaging with the Governor’s office to advance these policies here at home. Washington is well-positioned to meet the growing demand for low-carbon materials and create a new generation of high-road manufacturing careers.

Governor Inslee’s welcomed announcement is a hopeful sign to continue the momentum for moving the Buy Clean and Buy Fair Washington Act in Olympia this legislative session. These critical safeguards will promote transparency around public spending and move toward leveraging state spending to cut embodied carbon while promoting high-labor standards in manufacturing.”