ASP projects

Material Impact Passport

The construction sector is a major contributor to global warming, being responsible for 17.5%-40% of global greenhouse gas emissions according to different sources. The majority of these emissions arise in the construction supply chain, with 45% of emissions due to purchased goods and materials. The sector’s ambitions to reach Net Zero objecti- ves require a transformational change of the industry, which is hampered by multiple barriers including the lack of sustainability data about materials and the limited transparency of supply chains.

The Material Impact Passport (MIP) project thus developed a tool to uniquely record the social and environmental information of construction materials along the supply chain. The record can be easily accessed by a variety of users through a QR code. The MIP carbon footprint follows a cradle-to-gate approach, capturing CO2e sequestered and stored by forests as well as CO2e emitted due to processing, production and transportation. The MIP exploits Ethereum blockchain technology and smart contracts to securely ensure data integrity across different supply chain actors.

The project focused on renewable materials originating from forestry, as they are a sustainable building solution and display a favourable market outlook. Two case studies were explored to validate the MIP: a MIP prototype for a bamboo bookcase produced by the NGO Casa Congo in Nicaragua and a web-based platform for the LSB panel industrially manufactured by BNext in Italy. The case studies demonstrate the applicability of MIP into different contexts as an effective tool to support sustainability communication to stakeholders. A survey conducted with potential consumers and professionals working in the construction industry supported the refinement of the MIP and the integration of desired features by stakeholders.