Hudson Worsley, Chair of MECLA (the Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders' Alliance) joins us to unpack embodied carbon in construction. The emissions baked into every building, bridge, and data centre before they're even switched on. And how in Australia, construction sits at the centre of the net zero transition that almost no one is talking about.

Hudson helped set up MECLA five years ago with WWF-Australia. It now brings together more than 160 partners across construction, infrastructure, government, and finance to drive down embodied carbon in concrete, steel, aluminium, and the buildings they go into.

We get into:

Why government procurement is the single biggest lever for change in Australian construction, and why outcome-based targets beat input-based ones
The impact of the data centre boom
Why concrete alone accounts for around 8% of global emissions, and would be the fourth-largest emitting country in the world if it were one
Why "no" doesn't mean "never" when you're asking for low-emission materials, and how persistence has driven down the cost premium on low-carbon cement
How the Anzac Bridge, built around the Sydney Olympics with 65% recycled industrial waste in its pillars, was quietly 30 years ahead of its time
What AASB S2 mandatory climate reporting means for Scope 3 emissions across the construction value chain

Hudson's call to action is simple. Ask the embodied carbon question. Then ask it again. And again.

RESOURCES

MECLA (Materials and Embodied Carbon Leaders' Alliance): https://mecla.org.au

MECLA Report on Reducing Embodied Carbon in Data Centre Delivery: https://mecla.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/MECLA-Report-on-Reducing-Embodied-Carbon-in-Data-Centre-Delivery.pdf

National Climate Risk Assessment: https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/policy/national-climate-risk-assessment

Green Building Council of Australia: https://new.gbca.org.au

NABERS Embodied Carbon: https://www.nabers.gov.au/ratings/our-ratings/nabers-embodied-carbon

HUDSON'S RECOMMENDATION

Outrage + Optimism podcast with Christiana Figueres: https://www.outrageandoptimism.org

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