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Whole-building LCA enables data-driven choices that cut embodied environmental impacts across key categories (global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, etc.). Testing alternatives—optimized structural systems, cement substitutions, high-SCM concrete mixes, mass timber where appropriate, rationalized framing, lower-impact insulation and cladding—often reveals reductions without cost premiums when coordinated early. Pairing LCA with procurement (EPDs for shortlisted products) tightens alignment between design intent and actual specifications. Using LCA as window dressing forfeits its value; skipping it leaves embodied carbon unmanaged even as operational energy drops. Recycled content can help but is only one lever and sometimes correlates weakly with total impact. An early, option-focused LCA integrated with cost/performance keeps the team on track for a lower-carbon building and provides transparent documentation for LEED MR pathways.