Every year on April 22nd, the US and 193 countries worldwide celebrate Earth Day, taking a moment to appreciate our world and find ways to solve environmental challenges at a global level. Today’s major topic is how to shift to more sustainable practices to protect environmental resources for future generations. 

When considering all the potential actions to take, one of the first questions to ask, is where to start? Start with the biggest contributors to the problem. 

“Construction creates an estimated third of the world's overall waste, and at least 40% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions” according to the BBC. 

At this scale, the next question is how to implement change to achieve meaningful results. 

Here are three current policies or products that are shifting how we build:

Emission regulation is one method to minimize environmental impact, and in March 2022, the SEC issued new guidelines requiring companies not only to report both direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions but also emissions that occur in the upstream or downstream activities of a company’s value chain. 

Sustainable / locally sourced material is another area of focus. Biden’s infrastructure bill, Building a Better America, is pushing “American Made” which does two things, provides jobs in the US and also reduces carbon emissions by eliminating long, overseas transport from countries like China.

Reducing wasted materials can have immediate impact and where individuals have the ability to apply more environmentally friendly practices. Improvements around project management help reduce rework, which costs the industry around $15 billion annually, and saves material from landfills. Material management provided visibility into suppliers in terms of emissions. It also allows for more precision when compiling a bill of materials based on job specifications. And finally, leftover material can be logged as inventory and stored in the warehouse for the next job verse ending up in a landfill. 

Kojo’s Mission is ​​to make it faster, easier, and more sustainable to build the world around us.

With this in mind, the product is intentionally built to:‍

1. Provide an added layer of transparency and increased visibility downstream to meet regulations, thanks to better and more efficient communication with vendors. 
2. Easy to access material catalogs, complete with current availability and material specs to adhere to building material requirements. 
3. Improved accuracy in material orders from PO, to delivery, to warehouse inventory, making it faster for field teams to get what they need and easier for accounts payable to pay for what they got.

Overall, adopting sustainable practices in construction is important not only for the environment but also for the well-being of people and the long-term economic viability of the industry. To learn about how Kojo can help implement change, contact us. Happy Earth Day.

‍