Can this AI tool make construction more sustainable?

This platform measures the carbon footprint of building materials in real time

Spotted: The embodied carbon of a building – or emissions associated with its materials – makes up a significant portion of a property’s final carbon footprint. Life cycle assessments (LCAs) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) are important tools to help construction teams understand and minimise their environmental impact, but these can be costly and time-consuming to conduct. Enter Pathways. 

Pathways’ AI-powered platform allows users to automate the creation of LCAs and EPDs and continually update them in real time. The platform takes a manufacturer’s unstructured data, whether that’s procurement documents or invoices, and transforms it into easy-to-understand breakdowns of a material’s impact. Users can view metrics like the global warming potential, ozone depletion, and overall emissions associated with the production, transportation, use, and end of life treatment of a product. 

The proprietary software also allows users to visualise ‘hotspots’, or areas of particularly heavy environmental impact in a business, as well as measure impact against industry averages or selected competitors. With the technology, users can also model the impact of making various changes, helping them to find the most effective carbon-reduction strategies. 

Earlier this year, Pathways raised $2.5 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Pi Labs and Zachary Ventures and the money is going towards expanding Pathways’ sales and engineering teams to help accelerate its mission of decarbonising the construction industry.

Written By: Archie Cox and Matilda Cox