The Environmental Protection Agency announced the award of nearly $160 million to 38 grant recipients to support efforts to report and reduce climate pollution from the manufacturing of construction materials and products. The grants will support the Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the federal government’s purchasing power to catalyze demand for clean construction materials used in federal buildings, highways and infrastructure projects.

The grant selections include a diverse range of projects to help measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, several projects will support workforce development to grow the number of sustainable construction professionals available to support the use of clean construction materials, a project in Maine will help a company that manufactures insulation made from wood fiber track the quantity of energy and raw materials used in each of its processes, a project in Illinois will help a nonprofit organization that sells reused architectural materials measure how much the salvaged materials reduce carbon emissions, a large insulation manufacturer based in Indiana will use grant funding to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions for its full product portfolio, a major university will use grant funds to research and document carbon emissions savings from reusing structural steel, and a company in Georgia will receive funding to report the emissions savings gained by switching from higher-carbon components in cement and concrete to recycled and innovative materials.

Summaries of the proposed grantee projects are available.