The early design stage exerts a decisive influence on whole-life carbon (WLC) outcomes, yet limited research compares how AEC professionals across different contexts perceive and implement WLC strategies. This study adopts a cross-cultural perspective to examine how practitioners in China and the United States understand and integrate WLC considerations into early-stage design, with a particular focus on WLC literacy, implementation motivations and barriers, and perceptions of design-parameter importance. A total of 100 online survey responses were collected (50 China, 44 U.S., 6 other regions) and compared against existing literature on design-parameter importance derived from performance sensitivity analyses.
Results reveal three major dimensions of divergence: (1) Cognition: U.S. practitioners exhibit higher familiarity with life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools and place stronger emphasis on embodied carbon in material stages, whereas Chinese practitioners focus more on operational emissions. (2) Motivations and barriers: Chinese practice is primarily regulation-driven, while U.S. practice relies more on professional ethics and expertise; however, “insufficient client demand” emerges as the dominant barrier in both regions. (3) Parameter prioritization: Although both groups show strong consensus on the importance of building form, façade materials, and window-to-wall ratio, they differ markedly in their weighting of structural systems, foundation types, and MEP systems. Overall, several carbon-critical parameters exhibit misalignment between practitioners’ perceptions and simulation-based sensitivities, reflecting a persistent cognition–performance gap.
The study suggests that China may benefit from simplified assessment tools and strengthened regulatory guidance, while U.S. practice requires enhanced budgetary and design-flexibility support. Both contexts require earlier integration of carbon-critical decisions and improved carbon literacy. By constructing a cross-cultural mapping of early-stage WLC priorities, this research provides a methodological foundation for advancing global collaboration in building decarbonization.