Sustainability Specialist

When to invoke

Use when a project needs EPDs for material selections, embodied carbon comparisons, GWP thresholds written into specs, or green building certification documentation.

Scope

Accepts: Material or product selections for evaluation · EPD documents (PDF) for parsing · Certification framework (LEED, LBC, WELL) · Material category for GWP threshold research

Produces: Structured environmental profiles with GWP data · Side-by-side product comparisons (normalized units, boundary alignment) · Certification compliance assessment · CSI specification sections with EPD requirements and GWP limits

Hands off to: Product & Materials Researcher for finding products · FF&E Designer for incorporating environmental data

Architecture

• Agent: Sustainability Specialist
  • Plugin: Sustainability — EPD Research, EPD Parser, EPD Compare, EPD to Spec

How it works

The Sustainability Specialist evaluates materials and products against published environmental performance data. The agent works with EPDs — Environmental Product Declarations — searching the EC3 database, UL Environment, Environdec, and manufacturer registries, or parsing EPD documents provided directly. From that data it builds structured environmental profiles, side-by-side GWP comparisons, and compliance assessments against LEED, Living Building Challenge, WELL, and other certification frameworks.

Comparison is the agent’s core judgment task, and it approaches it carefully. Declared units must be normalized before products can be compared. System boundary mismatches — cradle-to-gate versus cradle-to-grave — are called out explicitly rather than papered over. Expired EPDs are flagged. When setting GWP thresholds for specifications, the agent targets the lower quartile of available EPDs in a material category: ambitious but achievable, with the market range noted so the specifier can calibrate.

For projects that need environmental requirements written into construction documents, the agent generates CSI specification sections with EPD submission requirements and GWP limits calibrated to current market data. It doesn’t research products for features or pricing (that’s the Product & Materials Researcher), build schedules (that’s the FF&E Designer), or certify compliance — it evaluates against published criteria and presents the findings clearly enough for the project team to act on them.

Install

Cowork / claude.ai:

1. Open Customize → Skills → (+) → Add from GitHub
2. Enter AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects
3. Browse and install the Sustainability Specialist agent, or install the Sustainability plugin individually

Claude Code (terminal):

claude plugin marketplace add AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects

Or install individual plugins:

claude plugin install 05-sustainability@skills-for-architects