Bentley Systems, Incorporated (Nasdaq: BSY), the infrastructure engineering software company, announced today at COP27 expanded integrated workflows The new integration enables carbon assessment in infrastructure digital twin solutions, empowered by the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3). Developed by the nonprofit Building Transparency, EC3 is a no-cost, open-access tool that allows benchmarking, assessment, and reductions in embodied carbon, focused on the upfront supply chain emissions of construction materials. Building Transparency provides the education, resources, and tools – including EC3 – to address embodied carbon’s role in climate change. The EC3 tool and its subsequent effect on the industry are driving demand for low-carbon solutions and incentivizing construction material manufacturers and suppliers to invest in disclosure, transparency, and material innovations that reduce the carbon emissions of their products.
Rodrigo Fernandes, Bentley’s director of ES(D)G – empowering sustainable development goals, said, “This new integration in Bentley’s infrastructure digital twin platform exemplifies our strategy for empowering our users to achieve sustainable development goals. EC3 from Building Transparency is a perfect example of purpose-driven open, ecosystem collaboration, by which the private sector can come together to support and accelerate climate action.”
Stacy Smedley, executive director of Building Transparency, said, “We are excited to now be part of the Bentley iTwin platform ecosystem. It is great that the integration is built upon an open-source framework – foundational for both EC3 and the iTwin platform. We see this integrated workflow as a significant opportunity for AEC companies, ISVs, and digital integrators to link carbon analysis to infrastructure digital twins while ensuring complete control of their data, applications, and IP.”
The EC3 integration allows Bentley’s infrastructure digital twin solutions, powered by iTwin, and third-party applications built on the Bentley iTwin platform, to simplify and accelerate the generation of carbon reporting and insights based on the no-cost, open-source EC3 carbon database and calculator. The Bentley iTwin platform is an open, scalable, platform-as-a-service offering that enables developers to create and bring to market solutions that solve real infrastructure problems by leveraging digital twins.
Kaustubh Page, director of product management, iTwin platform for Bentley Systems, said, “We see the EC3 integration as a critical feature for the Bentley iTwin platform, further driving us toward the sustainability vision for the platform. We are delighted to see our users taking advantage of our Carbon Calculation Service on the Bentley iTwin platform to achieve carbon workflows such as reporting, project optioneering, and optimizing material selection. We are glad to integrate an additional lifecycle assessment tool to unlock decarbonization workflows.”
“Microsoft was the first large corporate user of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator and is piloting the tool (hosted in Microsoft Azure) on its 17-building redevelopment project at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., targeting an embodied carbon reduction of 30%. We are proud to be one of the early supporters of EC3, and, simultaneously, strategic partners of Bentley Systems,” said Katie Ross, global sustainability lead for real estate and facilities at Microsoft. “Seeing the EC3 tool and the Bentley iTwin platform converging is a great example of how we aim to accelerate sustainability through collaboration and demonstrates the power of data democratization.”
