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We organize events that
empower industry professionals to
radically reduce
embodied carbon 
from buildings and infrastructure

Join our mailing list to learn about upcoming events

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CLF Toronto

CLF Toronto is a local hub of the Carbon Leadership Forum, and was previously known as the Embodied Carbon Network (ECN) Toronto chapter. We organize local events that empower industry professionals to radically reduce embodied carbon from buildings and infrastructure. 

A diverse mix of professionals joins our events, including architects, engineers, contractors, sustainability consultants, material suppliers, building owners, and policymakers. Our events include informative presentations and interactive group discussions that address a range of topics relating to embodied carbon. We aim to build up local industry capacity to design and construct buildings and infrastructure that radically reduce embodied carbon.

CLF Toronto is connected to the larger global network of the Carbon Leadership Forum, which brings together 5000+ professionals from 2500+ companies, 75+ countries, and 1000+ cities around the world. 

Sign up for our mailing list to learn about upcoming events, and become a member of the Carbon Leadership Forum to join the online discussion with the global CLF community.

About CLF Vancouver

What is CLF?

The Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF) is accelerating the transformation of the building sector to radically reduce the embodied carbon in building materials and construction through collective action.

 

CLF pioneers research, creates resources, fosters cross-collaboration, and incubates member-led initiatives to bring embodied carbon emissions of buildings down to zero.

 

The CLF network is made up of architects, engineers, contractors, material suppliers, building owners, and policymakers who care about the future and are taking bold steps to decarbonize the built environment, with a keen focus on eliminating embodied carbon from buildings and infrastructure. 

 

Currently, the network brings together 5000+ professionals from 2500+ companies, 75+ countries, and 1000+ cities around the world

Join the Online

CLF Community

The CLF Community online platform brings together thousands of professionals from across the building industry, from over 30 countries and 100 cities around the world.

As a member, you can interact with a global network of interdisciplinary experts, where you can post questions, find resources, connect with local hubs, join focus groups, to keep track of upcoming events.  

To join the CLF Community online platform, become a member of CLF and and opt-in to join the online community when joining.

CLF Local Hubs 

There are 30+ local CLF hubs in cities worldwide.

Check out a current listing of CLF local hubs or apply to start a local hub in your region.

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Events

Events

Past Events and Webinars

CLF Toronto x Mass Timber Institute | Innovations in Mass Timber Building Design and Construction
01:45:35

CLF Toronto x Mass Timber Institute | Innovations in Mass Timber Building Design and Construction

Join us as we explore Innovations in Mass Timber Building Design and Construction through an engaging panel discussion with a group of industry experts. From the latest updates in policy and programs to cutting-edge engineering techniques, this panel will cover the advancements of mass timber influencing our industry. You’ll gain insights into the latest innovations driving efficiency and sustainability in modern construction. Whether you're a seasoned architect, engineer, or simply curious about mass timber as a structural material, this event offers an insightful exploration of the evolving landscape of building materials. This event is a collaboration between CLF Toronto and the Mass Timber Institute. This event will be held in-person at DIALOG Toronto’s studio located at Suite 500 - 35 John Street, Toronto, Ontario. (Entrance at 35 John Street elevators only). Doors open at 5:30pm, event starts promptly at 6pm. Speakers: Aryan Rezaei Rad, Assistant Professor Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering The overarching theme of Professor Rad’s academic activities is to advance sustainability and digitalization in building technology and structural engineering and foster the associated state-of-the-art knowledge in research, teaching, and technology transfer. Professor Rad’s research is located at the interface of multi-scale experimental and computational methods. With a particular focus on the structural engineering aspects, his research integrates advanced digital fabrication technologies and human-machine interactive design with eco-friendly construction materials (i.e. timber and wood-based products) to embrace new design frameworks and principles for sustainable structural systems. Craig Applegath. BSc | BArch | MArchUD | PPOAA | Architect AIBC | NSAA | AIA | FRAIC | LEED® AP BD+C Craig was a founding partner of DIALOG, and launched it’s Toronto Studio in 2003. In addition to his project and practice management responsibilities, Craig is active within his industry and the community at large. His speaking engagements include CaGBC GreenBuild conferences, CEC Conference in New Orleans, the Smart City Summit in Cuanghzhou Baiyun International Convention Centre in China, the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto and the CIP/APPI Conference in Banff, Alberta. Craig was the Principal-in-Charge for a project that gleaned the prestigious OPPI Award and he coauthored a related article for the Ontario Planning Journal. Craig was named a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada for his services to the profession in 2002, and was made an Honourary Member of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects in recognition of notable service in advancing the cause of landscape architecture in 2017. Craig is a future-oriented thinker and passionate advocate developing thoughtful planning and design solutions that make sense in a world challenged by climate change. Since completing studies at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University with a Master of Architecture in Urban Design, Craig has garnered a reputation for successfully leading complex, sustainably designed planning and design projects, and is internationally known for his advocacy and thought leadership in low carbon and regenerative design. Hailey Quiquero, MASc, P.Eng., Technical Manager, WoodWorks ON - Canadian Wood Council Hailey is a structural engineer and has focused her career specializing in sustainable architecture and the advancement of timber building systems. Hailey spent several years of her career in research on the behaviour and fire safety of mass timber, as a structural designer with Entuitive in Toronto, and working to develop affordable housing products built of high-performance timber panels, contributing to the successful completion of several turnkey housing projects with Assembly Corp. (previously R-Hauz). In her current role as a Technical Manager for the Canadian Wood Council’s WoodWorks program, Hailey aids project teams with technical support and brings resources and education to industry stakeholders, advocating for the successful implementation of wood as a beautiful and sustainable building material in our built environment.
CLF Ontario Awards - 2023 Winning Projects (Part 1 of 2)
59:21

CLF Ontario Awards - 2023 Winning Projects (Part 1 of 2)

CLF Toronto is proud to bring deeper insights to two of our 2023 Ontario Embodied Carbon Award Winning Projects: Innovation in Industry 2023 Award Winner: TGS Embodied Carbon Caps On May 10, 2023, the City of Toronto updated the Toronto Green Standard (TGS) energy and emissions building design requirements to include mandatory embodied carbon intensity caps for new City agency, corporation, and division-owned buildings and private high-performance developments built within city limits. The TGS is a market transformation tool that sets out mandatory and higher performance sustainable design requirements for new developments in Toronto, which significantly improve upon the requirements of the Ontario Building Code. Toronto is the first jurisdiction in North America to establish whole-building embodied carbon intensity caps for new developments, which highlights Toronto’s leadership and investment in reducing embodied carbon emissions from building construction. Compliance with these caps will result in direct reductions in embodied carbon emissions from construction materials used in Toronto and have informed the industry of the importance of embodied carbon accounting in Toronto and surrounding areas. Major Retrofits 2023 Award Winner: 25 St Clair Avenue East DIALOG will be presenting a case study of the 25 St. Clair Avenue East project, recipient of the CLF Ontario 2023 Award in the Major Retrofit category. The project represents a pioneering example of a deep carbon retrofit, transforming an aging structure into an all-electric, high-performance building. The project, a major renovation of an existing ten-storey federal office building, was selected by the Government of Canada as the flagship model to demonstrate their commitment to achieving a carbon-neutral building portfolio by 2030 as part of its Greening Government Strategy. The project employs reuse of existing structure, energy efficiency, electrification of heating/cooling systems and promotion of occupant wellbeing through biophilic design, while emphasizing sustainability and waste reduction.
Embodied Carbon Design Tools   Kaleidoscope | CLF Toronto
48:16

Embodied Carbon Design Tools Kaleidoscope | CLF Toronto

Payette’s award-winning embodied carbon tool, Kaleidoscope, enables designers to assess various building assemblies for embodied carbon impact early in the design process without a 3D model. Kaleidoscope allows quick apples-to-apples comparison of envelopes and numerous interior assembly types through a simple interface with various data lenses. Learn through demonstration and project examples how Kaleidoscope can be used throughout early design and construction to make quicker more informed decisions regarding Life Cycle Assessments. About Our Speakers Melanie Silver, AIA, LEED AP BD+C Melanie is part of Payette's Building Science Group. She works with design teams to meet rigorous sustainability targets through data-driven investigation, while understanding which elements are critical to the building’s design or program. Melanie also leads research efforts to develop and implement Payette’s Material Policy throughout the office and is co-creator of Payette’s award-winning embodied carbon tool, Kaleidoscope. Olivia Humphrey, LEED AP BD+C Olivia is a Designer at Payette and primarily works on their science and research typologies. Her focus is on reducing the embodied carbon of both new construction and fit-out projects with lofty material health and carbon goals. She also works with Payette’s Building Science group on embodied carbon research and is a key team member of Kaleidoscope: Embodied Carbon Design Tool, winner of the 2022 AIA Innovation award and 16th annual ARCHITECT R+D Awards. Outside of Payette she co-chairs the Carbon Leadership Forum Boston/Northeast Policy subgroup, working to educate and recommend legislative policy around reducing embodied carbon. Yoko Furuya Yoko is a Designer at Payette and part of the Life-Cycle Analysis research group. She was a team player in the recent addition of partition assemblies for Kaleidoscope. Yoko is also working on Payette's first Livings Building Challenge project, Harvard's Physics Quantum Initiative-60 Oxford. With Yoko's experiences from 60 Oxford and LCA research, she is eager to do her continuous investigation on material policy and guide the community to make material decisions wisely. Elisabeth Machielse Elizabeth is a Designer at Payette, primarily working on new science and research buildings, and works with the firm’s Life Cycle Analysis team on embodied carbon research. In particular, she has been collaborating with the team to launch the recent updates for Kaleidoscope and hopes to expand access to LCA design tools in the professional community. She is eager to facilitate the implementation of healthy and low-carbon materials that will benefit the building users and surrounding communities.
Let's Be Upfront: The Daniels Corporation Talks Embodied Carbon
57:24

Let's Be Upfront: The Daniels Corporation Talks Embodied Carbon

Daniels is a purpose-driven real estate developer, and builds inclusive and sustainable communities to create a better future for all. Real estate development affects the way people live and shapes how communities come together, and Daniels has spent over 39 years investing in community development, affordable housing, food security, arts and culture, and sustainable building practices. Daniels has recently refocused their approach to sustainable development, and are on a mission to decarbonize the real estate development industry in the GTA by focusing on the whole life carbon emissions of the homes they build. By focusing on whole life carbon, they can quantify the true scale of the impact of the development process, and take accountability by quantifying, disclosing, and taking steps to drastically reduce our emissions. In early 2023, Daniels published their Decarbonization Roadmap, which measured and disclosed a baseline level of performance while establishing emission reduction targets and commitments. Most importantly, it provides an actionable pathway to decarbonization while challenging what sustainable building truly means in the context of global climate goals. This presentation will cover Daniels’ findings in developing their Decarbonization Roadmap, key next steps on deploying it, and how they are shifting the corporate mindset from treating sustainability as philosophical value into a value-add that drives good business. About Our Speakers Adam Molson - VP, Rental Communities & Sustainability, The Daniels Corporation Adam has grown with The Daniels Corporation since 2008, taking on a variety of roles prior to becoming Vice President, Rental Communities and Sustainability. Adam leads the Daniels Gateway Rental Communities division in the creation and management of purpose built communities that allow residents to love where they live. On the sustainability front, Adam is leading the process of transforming Daniels into one of Toronto’s leading low carbon developers. This work includes the recently released Decarbonization Roadmap, which outlines how Daniels plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65% from baseline performance. The Roadmap involves re-engineering building designs to utilize all electric heating, cooling and hot water systems and piloting high performance envelopes such as Passive House, all while reducing the embodied carbon emissions released from the construction process. Meghan Wilson - Senior Manager, Sustainability, The Daniels Corporation Meghan is a Senior Manager with The Daniels Corporation, a GTA-based residential developer and builder with a mission to build inclusive and sustainable communities to create a better future for all. Meghan played a key role in the development of Daniels Decarbonization Roadmap, and works collaboratively through all stages of the development process to support the design and construction of low-carbon communities, executing on the ambitious corporate goals to decarbonize the GTA real estate development industry. Her passion for sustainability drives innovation, finding solutions that push the traditional constraints of real estate development to build a greener future.
CLF Toronto | Decarbonizing our Workplace Through Circularity
49:40

CLF Toronto | Decarbonizing our Workplace Through Circularity

The workplace is evolving. Our buildings are decarbonizing. With furniture contributing up to 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions of a commercial building over its lifecycle, organizations must take a proactive approach to reduce this significant contributor to climate change. This presentation will explore the role of circularity in rebuilding the workplace and demonstrate the economic and environmental powerhouse of reuse & remanufacturing at scale. Participants will also learn about the role of office furniture in the circular economy, circular procurement strategies, and how organizations can maximize their assets through creative repurposing. About Our Speakers: Andy Delisi, Vice President of Sales at Envirotech - Andy is a seasoned executive in the commercial furniture industry, specializing in workplace wellness and sustainability. With over a decade of experience, his innovative vision has positioned Envirotech as a recognized industry leader. As a WELL AP and FitWel Ambassador, Andy's passion for eco-friendly, people-centric workspaces has led to numerous accomplishments, including being the dealer of choice for Canada's first FitWel-certified office. He has also authored three Continuing Education Units (CEUs) on sustainability in the built environment. Andy's unwavering commitment to sustainability and wellness continues to inspire the industry to elevate its standards and develop truly sustainable and wellness-focused workspaces. Norine Bevan, Director Furniture Advisory Services, CBRE - Norine has over 30 years of experience in the furniture industry through owning an office furniture dealership and then 7 years of consulting to interior designers, architects, and end users. With a flair for understanding creative design and a thorough understanding of corporate culture, Norine Bevan is the ideal partner for business owners and senior executives tasked with the challenging process of moving or revising interior business space. Norine Bevan streamlines the process of moving or managing interior space and maximizes time and efficiency always keeping the environment in the forefront.
LOW CARBON NOW | CLF Toronto Event
01:35:52

LOW CARBON NOW | CLF Toronto Event

The climate emergency has been declared. The World Green Building Council has stated that all new buildings are to be net zero operational carbon with a 40% reduction in embodied carbon by 2030. But, what can we do NOW to get there? We know that the decisions we make today will impact the carbon footprint of the buildings we design for their lifetime and we know that high performance buildings will play a significant role in the transformation to a low carbon economy. In Toronto, buildings account for about 60% of all carbon emissions and of the 323 cranes in the air, the vast majority are for residential projects - far more than any other North American city. Unfortunately, residential buildings have been the slowest to make the move toward low carbon design principles, so we wanted to see what could be done to change that. As key stakeholders in the development of residential buildings in Toronto, we want to understand why change is so slow, how we can come together to do something about it and ultimately aim to design buildings that are both affordable and sustainable. This presentation covers multiple insights on how we can get residential buildings down to net zero carbon. With the designer, developer, and contractor perspectives, we present a full picture of the opportunities and challenges to successfully plan, design, and build lower carbon residential buildings in Toronto based on a case study completed by a multidisciplinary team of people focused on low carbon solutions.
Videos

Scale of Embodied Carbon Emissions

 

Globally, the building and construction sectors account for nearly 40% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in constructing and operating buildings (including the impacts of upstream power generation). Current building codes address operating energy but do not typically address the impacts ‘embodied’ in building materials and products. However, more than half of all GHG emissions are related to materials management (including material extraction and manufacturing) when aggregated across industrial sectors. As building operations become more efficient, these embodied impacts related to producing building materials become increasingly significant.

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Significance of Embodied Carbon

Between now and 2060 the world’s population will be doubling the amount of building floor-space, equivalent to building an entire New York City every month for 40 years. Much of the carbon footprint of these new buildings will take the form of embodied carbon — the emissions associated with building material manufacturing and construction.

 

Embodied carbon will be responsible for almost half of the total new construction emissions between now and 2050.

Unlike operational carbon emissions, which can be reduced over time with building energy efficiency renovations and the use of renewable energy, embodied carbon emissions have irreversibly entered the atmosphere as soon as a building is built.

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City of Toronto

Embodied Carbon Policy

 

The Toronto Green Standard (TGS) v4  comes into effect on May 1, 2022. As of now, the mandatory tier 1 has no embodied carbon requirements for private buildings, however, the mid-high rise residential and non-residential version's voluntary tier 2 requires the calculation and reporting of the embodied carbon in the building structure and envelope to meet a carbon intensity of 350 kgCO2e/m2, while voluntary tier 3 level requires a carbon intensity of 250 kgCO2e/m2. 

 

The low-rise residential version's voluntary tier 2 requires embodied carbon to be below 250 kgCO2e/m2. Note that all the TGS embodied carbon requirements may be updated based on a number of studies currently underway.


Waterfront Toronto Green Building Requirements v3  requires projects subject to Waterfront Toronto requirements to conduct a whole lifecycle carbon assessment (LCA) during schematic design for the building structure and envelope in accordance with the CaGBC Zero Carbon Building Standard version 2 methodology. In addition, projects are to update at detailed design based on up to date design.

Certification Systems that Address Embodied Carbon

 

LEED v4.1 - New Construction

Through the MRc1: Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction credit, projects can receive 1 LEED point for conducting conducting a life cycle assessment of the project’s structure and enclosure. Projects can receive up to 3 points if the LCA demonstrates a minimum of 10% reduction, compared with a baseline building, in at least three of the six impact categories listed below, one of which must be global warming potential. Up to 4 points are rewarded for a 20% reduction from baseline along with incorporating reused or salvaged materials into the building design.

 

CaGBC - ZCB Design v3

Zero Carbon Building Standard version 3 requires all project teams to meet a minimum embodied carbon standard of 500 kg C02/m2 or 10% GWP reduction from a baseline building. Two "Impact and Innovation" strategies may be rewarded as higher thresholds of performance.  The two "Impact and Innovation" strategies are:

  1. ≤ 350 CO2e/m2 or 20% GWP reduction from baseline

  2. ≤ 240 CO2e/m2 or 40% GWP reduction from baseline

In ZCB Performance v3, embodied emissions are required to be offset.

ILFI Zero Carbon Certification

Projects must demonstrate a 10% reduction in embodied carbon and not exceed 500 kgCO2e/m2, with remaining embodied emissions offset through an approved carbon offset provider.

ILFI Living Building Challenge - Energy Petal

Projects must demonstrate a 20% reduction in embodied carbon, with remaining embodied emissions offset through an approved carbon offset provider.

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Gallery
Team

Meet Our Team

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Heather Belsey

Senior Associate

CannonDesign

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Meghan Wilson

Senior Manager, Sustainability

The Daniels Corporation

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Zeina Elali

Senior Manager, ESG & Decarbonization

KPMG

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Alistair Vaz

Senior Planner

University of Toronto

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Anna Wang

Project Manager, Sustainability

EQ Building Performance

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Anya Barkan

Senior Sustainability Manager

Multiplex

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Michael Mousa

Sustainability Consultant

DIALOG

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