Embodied carbon calculation for geosynthetic products and implication for engineering projects

Geosynthetic products are widely used in construction projects. Although many studies have demonstrated that geosynthetic solutions result in lower carbon dioxide emissions compared to traditional methods, precise embodied carbon (EC) values for geosynthetic products are scarce. In addition, the EC values of geosynthetics are sometimes substituted with primary raw material data in project carbon footprint calculations, which undermines the credibility of their sustainability claims. This paper reviews EC calculation methods for geosynthetics and provides a geogrid case example. It then extracts EC values from 120 Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to propose representative values for geosynthetic products in different regions and recalculates the carbon footprints of geosynthetic-reinforced projects using maximum EC values to assess their impact on project-level estimates. The results show that emissions accumulated during the manufacturing stage of geosynthetic products account for nearly 30% of their total EC. However, the EC of geosynthetic products contributes only a small portion of the total EC of geosynthetic-reinforced projects. Even with higher EC values, geosynthetic solutions remain more sustainable than conventional alternatives. The calculation method presented in this paper enables geosynthetic companies to estimate product EC without commercial life cycle assessment software, while EPD-derived values enhance existing datasets for more accurate carbon footprint calculations in geosynthetic-reinforced projects globally.