Learn How Gensler Is Rethinking Everyday Material Choices

A view of the western elevation of Hennepin County Westonka Library shows how Gensler uses its Product Sustainability (GPS) Standards to guide material choices inside and out.

There’s a quiet shift happening in design—one that has less to do with bold gestures and more to do with the things we’ve historically treated as background (read: picked at the last minute).

The flooring. The wall systems. The furniture package.

At Gensler, that “everyday” layer of decision-making is now a primary focus for climate action. Through its Climate Action Studio, the firm is rethinking how materials are selected in the first place, using its Product Sustainability (GPS) Standards to bring consistency—and accountability—to the process.

Because the reality is, a project’s carbon footprint isn’t just wrapped up in structure or systems. It’s embedded in the products that make up the bulk of what we specify every day.

The library's Reading Room is an example of how the firm uses its GPS Standards to select interior materials.

Your Finish Schedule Has a Carbon Footprint

“The built environment is responsible for 40% of carbon emissions globally,” says Carey Gallagher, Gensler’s product sustainability leader.

Rather than approaching that challenge only through high-level targets, Gensler zeroed in on where designers have the most direct influence: material selection. And carbon, as it turns out, shows up in different ways depending on what you’re specifying.

Carey says the first thing they evaluate is where the material is coming from, the transportation distance. For some products, the impact is tied to raw material extraction. For others, it’s manufacturing or long-distance shipping. Taken together, those decisions add up quickly, which reframes specification as something far more consequential than it’s often treated.

From “It Depends” to a Clear Standard

Historically, sustainable material selection hasn’t been especially streamlined. Different projects called for different certifications, different benchmarks, and different interpretations of what “good” looked like. Even manufacturers were left trying to respond to a patchwork of expectations.

GPS is Gensler’s attempt to simplify that landscape. By establishing performance criteria across 18 of the most specified, high-impact product categories, the firm created a shared baseline that can travel across projects, teams, and regions.

“We found that if we had a systemic approach… we could actually have a greater impact,” Carey says.

The framework doesn’t just define minimum expectations—it also highlights what leading products are doing, giving designers a clearer way to evaluate options without starting from scratch each time.

“It’s not a trade-off… you can look at carbon, material health, [and] circularity together,” she says.

The Library's Children's Room

When One Firm Moves, the Market Follows

At Gensler’s scale, the implications are significant. The firm is already applying GPS across projects in North America and Europe, influencing a substantial volume of material specifications each year.

“If we’re specifying a ton of material, and those materials are lower carbon… [then] that’s a significant reduction,” Carey notes.

But the impact doesn’t stop at the project level. A consistent, firm-wide approach sends a clear signal to manufacturers about what the market is prioritizing.

“It’s been really overwhelmingly positive… a very clear directive,” she says.

Circularity is also beginning to enter the conversation—though it’s still early. "It’s still burgeoning,” Carey says.

For designers, the day-to-day work may not look dramatically different, but the priorities are shifting. Sustainability is no longer a secondary consideration; it’s being weighed alongside performance, aesthetics, and cost as part of the same decision-making process.

“The hope is that [it’s] considered alongside technical performance, aesthetics, and cost,” Carey says.

The Real Power Move

The GPS Standards aren’t just about better materials; they’re about better defaults. Because at this scale, specification isn’t just documentation—it’s direction. It shapes what gets made, what gets improved, and ultimately, what becomes standard across the industry.

And if that shift sticks—if sustainability becomes embedded in the everyday decisions, not layered on top of them—then the spec book stops being background noise. It becomes the strategy—and the lever.

—Murrye Bernard