Design Tools

Landscape architects now have access to a growing selection of tools designed to decarbonize projects by assessing both the embodied carbon from construction materials and the carbon sequestration potential of landscapes. These tools range from simple calculators to advanced platforms tailored to specific designs, enabling better environmental decision-making.

Explore tools for measuring and reducing carbon impacts in design practices:

Landscape-Specific Tools

Some of the most recent and innovative tools developed by landscape architects are tailored to address the unique needs of landscape and site projects. These tools focus on both the carbon impact of landscape features and the opportunities for carbon sequestration in design

    • Visit Pathfinder (Climate Positive Design), a web-based calculator that helps you quantify GHG emissions and sequestration potential in landscape design projects.

    • Explore Carbon Conscience, developed by Sasaki, which allows you to assess carbon impacts at multiple scales, providing carbon metrics and analysis tools for landscape designs.

    • Try Bond, formerly the Landscape Carbon Calculator, which offers granular-level calculations of emissions and sequestration potential from landscape systems.

    • Check out ecoSmart Landscapes Carbon and Energy (Beta), a tool to evaluate the environmental impact of landscaped outdoor spaces, including water use, stormwater runoff, energy conservation, and carbon storage.

    • Use the Urban Drawdown Initiative Tool, a GIS-based tool from the Trust for Public Land that accelerates carbon removal strategies in landscapes while improving community resilience.

    • Explore i-Tree, a USDA tool that provides detailed tree carbon data, including inputs for various species based on location, helping you assess tree sequestration potential.

    • Try the CUFR Tree Carbon Calculator to obtain quantitative data on carbon sequestration and energy effects of individual trees, with inputs based on location and species.

Broader Building Applications

Some general or building-specific tools provide additional resources that, while not specifically designed for landscape architecture, offer opportunities to expand analyses, integrate with platforms like Revit and Rhino, and facilitate collaboration with interdisciplinary teams. These tools, originally developed for building design, can support landscape architects in assessing carbon impacts across both buildings and landscapes. They are designed to evaluate the environmental impacts of entire buildings and infrastructure projects, enabling more comprehensive assessments and collaborative efforts between landscape and building design teams. Additionally, these tools offer carbon insights early in the design process, allowing teams to make informed decisions during the conceptual or planning stages of their projects.

    • Try Beacon, a Revit plug-in for Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) that evaluates structural systems and building materials like concrete, steel, and wood.

    • Explore HBERT, a Revit plug-in for WBLCA, supporting evaluations of whole buildings, design options, and materials across all life-cycle stages.

    • Sign up for One-Click LCA, a web-based WBLCA tool for comparing building assemblies and materials, with add-ons for GHG emissions reporting and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) generation.

    • Use Build Carbon Neutral, a construction carbon calculator to estimate net embodied carbon of structures and sites, aimed at developers, architects, and land planners.

    • Explore the Building and Habitat Object Model (BHoM), a toolkit for WBLCA supporting comparisons of building systems, assemblies, and materials using Grasshopper/Rhino, Excel, and BIM integration.

    • Explore EPIC (Early Phase Integrated Carbon Assessment), a web-based calculator designed to assess carbon impacts early in the design process, applying embodied and operational carbon intensities to establish a baseline scenario.

    • Check out ECOM – Embodied Carbon Estimator, a tool for estimating embodied carbon in projects or framing schemes, developed as part of the Structural Engineering 2050 Net Zero commitment.