Over the lifetime of a building, embodied carbon from materials, transportation of materials, and building construction can account for half of a building's carbon emissions. Global building floor area is expected to double by 2060, which amounts to an incredible amount of upfront carbon emissions to address in the built environment. The process, and responsibility, to do so spans multiple stakeholders: materials supply chain, structural engineers, architects, construction, and developers. No longer can excuses be made or fingers be pointed for not achieving reductions; there is an urgent need to address embodied carbon. Plus, as global momentum builds for climate action, federal, state, and local governments are introducing building-sector requirements covering both operational and embodied carbon. This session will provide perspectives from a general contractor, a structural engineer, and a developer who have successfully reduced embodied carbon in new developments. Panelists will walk the audience through embodied carbon reductions from predesign through development, building occupancy, and deconstruction, all of which encompass a vital part of the industry's journey to net zero.

Building owners, investors and tenants grapple with the costs of reducing carbon footprints while cities set aggressive goals towards achieving net zero. Meanwhile, the capital markets must determine how to finance these "green" initiatives and quantify the value and risk associated with transitioning to net zero. Join us as we explore the real costs of going to net zero, who bears the burden and the financial drivers behind this push.

In recent decades, no building material has inspired awe, passion, and innovation like mass timber. Nature's building solution is transforming the construction industry because it sequesters carbon, greatly improves speed and precision, significantly reduces the size of the framing crew, and, most important, creates a superior product that occupants love. The United States has been behind Europe and Canada in the production and use of mass timber and many municipal codes haven't even contemplated tall timber as a solution. But in recent years that has changed, as companies such as Google, Adidas, Atlassian, and Walmart have embraced mass timber and cities have updated codes to allow for taller mass timber structures to be built. This session serves as a "state of the union" for mass timber: how far it has come, its massive future potential, and the biggest challenges (and solutions) for its progress.