From Measurement to Momentum: Making Greenhouse Gas Data Work Harder for Every Project
McCarthy is turning greenhouse gas data into a practical tool that helps project teams make smarter decisions, reduce emissions and costs, and create lasting value for clients and communities.
Incremental improvements in emissions measurement can strengthen decisions, reduce the burden on project teams and create a practical baseline for sustainability programs that deliver business value for owners.
Fuel decisions, equipment choices, material movement and jobsite practices can affect emissions, costs and the communities where we build. That is why McCarthy views greenhouse gas (GHG) measurement not as an administrative exercise, but as an operating tool.
Our recently published 2025 GHG Emissions Report advances that tool by providing a more complete picture of emissions across McCarthy Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries and the activities that support our work. The report includes Scope 1, Scope 2 and key categories of Scope 3 emissions; Scope 1 and Scope 2 have received limited third-party assurance. This report gives our clients, employee-owners, workforce and industry partners a transparent baseline to measure impact and support improvements in the communities we live and work.
Effective measurement should simplify work — not add extra steps.
Measurement has the greatest value when it fits the way projects are delivered. Historically, collecting emissions data often meant extra spreadsheets, unfamiliar requests and recurring tasks for teams who were already busy. That approach is difficult to scale and can pull people away from building.
McCarthy has taken a different path. By starting with data already generated through companywide invoices and transactions, artificial intelligence is used to help interpret activity such as kilowatt-hours of electricity and gallons of fuel. Developed with Gravity Climate and supported by McCarthy’s data and accounting teams, this approach makes measurement more consistent while reducing what we ask of project teams. It has saved an estimated 10,450 hours of project data collected each year — time teams can spend on project delivery and client needs. These lessons are detailed in Making Sustainability Work Across Construction Teams and Clients.
Effective measurement is not about collecting the most data for its own sake. It is about creating clear, reliable insights from information we already have, applying thoughtful checks and making results useful to the people closest to the work.
From a company baseline to project-level action
A credible baseline helps McCarthy understand where emissions occur, compare patterns over time and identify opportunities that improve environmental outcomes and business performance. It also helps owners respond to sustainability and supply chain expectations. Increasingly, they expect construction partners to help meet sustainability goals and provide credible, project-level evidence of progress — making clear, usable emissions data an important driver for collaboration and better decisions.
The next step is to use the baseline selectively. Data can help teams focus on reducing unnecessary fuel use and idling, improving equipment and fleet efficiency, managing energy demand, reducing waste, and working with trade partners and suppliers on lower-impact choices. The specific opportunity will vary by project, but the approach is consistent: identify the source, understand the cause, test a change, measure the result and then scale what works.
Future sustainability programs should be evaluated on more than emissions reduction alone. They should also demonstrate clear business value through avoided fuel and energy costs, more efficient workflows, reduced waste or stronger client value, while reducing environmental and community impact where projects are delivered.
As McCarthy continues to refine its approach, each improvement should make emissions data more complete, comparable and actionable without creating unnecessary burden for the people delivering projects
Innovation works when people can use it
Technology is important, but people make the difference. AI can accelerate analysis; it cannot replace the judgment of project teams, craft professionals, trade partners and owners who understand the day-to-day realities of construction.
Collaboration with McCarthy’s data and accounting teams helps identify and use existing company data instead of creating extra requests for project teams. Integrating measurement into existing systems and workflows enables the process to run alongside project delivery. As described in Sustainability in Action: How We Build Today for Tomorrow, responsible building depends on smarter tools, collaboration and practical choices built into daily work.
GHG measurement is the starting point, but not the finish line. When the baseline is credible and the process is straightforward, McCarthy can move from reporting what happened to reducing what happens next. That is how innovation and employee-ownership come together — turning better information into better decisions, stronger project outcomes and lasting value for clients, communities and the planet.
About the Author
Ian Pope holds an MBA with a focus on Sustainability from Wilmington University and serves as Senior Director of Sustainability at McCarthy Holdings, Inc. He oversees companywide sustainability initiatives for McCarthy Holdings and its subsidiaries, including McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., and leads a team dedicated to advancing environmental stewardship. With a focus on driving impactful programs and addressing key corporate responsibility challenges, Ian plays a central role in strengthening the firm’s sustainable business practices.
