How Implenia Uses 2050 Materials for Early Carbon Decisions

Implenia, Switzerland’s leading construction and real estate services company, is no stranger to ambitious sustainability goals. With over 9,000 employees and a strong presence across Europe, the company is pushing boundaries on sustainable building.

A prime example is its work on Switzerland’s tallest timber building in Winterthur - a 100% wooden high-rise that showcases the company’s commitment to low-carbon construction.

As Implenia continues to shift toward more climate-responsible projects, it has started to rethink how sustainability is built into design processes — not just in execution, but from the very beginning.

When leading architecture competitions, Implenia wanted to ensure that environmental impact - especially embodied carbon - could be factored into how design proposals were judged.

Traditionally, carbon assessments happen later in a project, when many material and design decisions are already locked in. Implenia aimed to change that. Their goal was to include carbon benchmarking as part of the selection criteria during architectural competitions - a first for the company.

But they needed a tool that could support quick, transparent comparisons across very early-stage proposals, without requiring heavy LCA work upfront.

Implenia’s sustainability team turned to the 2050 Materials Project Tool and Library, which supports real-time carbon calculations across a wide range of construction products and assemblies.

The tool was integrated with key Swiss databases, including KBOB and Annex D of SIA 2032, making it directly usable in the local regulatory context. To align with Implenia’s internal standards, the 2050 Materials team also adjusted the backend to ensure SIA 2032-compliant calculations.

Two architectural competitions were selected as pilot projects.

• Sustainability experts from Implenia’s real estate division used the 2050 Materials tool to calculate and compare the embodied carbon of each proposed design.
• This benchmarking supported fair and consistent evaluation aligned with Implenia’s real estate decarbonization goals.
• After a short familiarization period, the experts were able to run quick evaluations and submit comparative reports to the competition jury.

By using 2050 Materials at this early stage, Implenia achieved several firsts:

• Carbon footprint data was used as an evaluation criterion in architecture competitions for the first time.
• Expert reports with comparative carbon benchmarks were delivered efficiently and cost-effectively.
• The company now has a repeatable method for embedding climate performance into early design decisions — not just in these two pilots, but across future projects.

This case shows that carbon insight doesn’t have to come late or be expensive. With the right tools and processes, developers like Implenia can bring sustainability into the earliest design phases — when it matters most.

If you would like to learn more about how 2050 Materials can help you reach your sustainability goals while cutting costs, reach out to arrange a demo.