Oral Presentation World Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2026

Embodied Carbon Impacts of Landscape Architecture: A Case Study of UC Berkeley Campus (131495)

Angela A Kou 1 , Matt A Roberts 1
  1. Center for the Built Environment, University of California, Berkeley , Berkeley, CA, United States

Urban landscaped greenspaces have environmental benefits, including carbon sequestration from vegetation, soils, and mulch. However, as cities continue to grow, there is untapped potential to mitigate environmental impacts of landscape architecture. Carbon-intensive hardscaping materials like concrete, steel, and brick, commonly used in pavement systems contribute significant greenhouse gas emissions that could potentially outweigh the sequestration benefits of greenspaces. While life cycle assessment has been used to assess the embodied carbon impacts of buildings, their application to landscape architecture is limited. We have developed a site-scale environmental impact framework utilizing unit-assembly embodied carbon intensities to quantify embodied carbon of landscape paving and paver systems, using the University of California, Berkeley campus as a case study. The unit-assembly intensities were developed in alignment with ISO 14040:2006 and EN 15804:2012+A2:2019. Paver assemblies (median: 56.8 kgCO2e/m2) exhibit higher and more variable embodied carbon per unit area than conventional paving systems (median: 42.5 kgCO2e/m2), reflecting greater material intensity and construction complexity. By normalizing embodied carbon using unit-assembly intensities (kgCO2e/m2), this framework enables direct comparison of landscape assemblies during early-stage design, supporting rapid, site-scale decision-making. We present an open-source dataset of 25 assemblies for landscape architects to streamline decision-making to facilitate site-scale adoption to better align with industry decarbonization goals and climate action targets. As landscape architects increasingly seek to address sustainability, it is essential that embodied carbon is included in holistic assessments of greenspace impacts.