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We organize events that
empower industry professionals to
eliminate embodied carbon of buildings, materials, and infrastructure to create a just and thriving future

CLF Los Angeles

CLF Los Angeles (CLF-LA) is a local hub of the Carbon Leadership Forum. 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-LA 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. Since our first event in July 2020, we have covered topics from embodied carbon reduction in concrete, public policy, calculation workflows, SE 2050, and more to come.

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 

CLF-LA is one of over 25 cities worldwide to start up local hubs.

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

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Next Event

Events
Videos

Past Presentation Videos

CLF LA Webinar - CalGreen Embodied Carbon Mandatory Measures - September 21, 2023
59:30

CLF LA Webinar - CalGreen Embodied Carbon Mandatory Measures - September 21, 2023

Learn about mandatory measures for embodied carbon that have been adopted into CalGreen, effective July 2024. 5:30 - Introduction and Policy Context 13:00 - CalGreen Pathways 28:50 - Whole Building LCA Pathway 46:58 - Building Reuse Pathway 49:54 - Open Q&A AIA CA Press Release: https://aiacalifornia.org/advocacy-updates/california-becomes-first-state-to-adopt-mandatory-measures-to-reduce-embodied-carbon/ Presenters: Webly Bowles is an Associate Director of Codes and Policy at New Buildings Institute. As a licensed architect, her experience is in sustainable building and includes principles of design, construction, and operation. She has developed sustainable and energy efficiency building programs for global fortune 500 companies and state-wide programs alike, proving measurable results. At NBI, she brings her systems thinking approach to her work in the research and promotion of zero energy buildings. She interprets technical requirements to provide valuable high performance building guidance to design, construction, and operation professionals through presentations, resources, and tools. Before joining NBI in 2017, Webly worked as an energy analyst for MPower Oregon, a non-profit providing full-service energy efficiency upgrades to affordable multifamily housing in Oregon. She earned her Bachelor of Architecture degree from University of Oregon in 2003 and holds several sustainable building certifications. Anish Tilak is a manager with RMI’s Carbon-Free Buildings program where he manages projects in the Pathways to Zero initiative. Anish applies a depth of industry experience and subject matter expertise to develop scalable approaches to decarbonize the built environment, with a current focus on building electrification and grid-interactive technologies.
CLF LA Webinar - Facades February - Feb. 17, 2022
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CLF LA Webinar - Facades February - Feb. 17, 2022

1:40 - Laura Karnath - Intro to Embodied Carbon in Facades 5:53 - Isabelle Hens - Embodied Carbon of Timber Unitized Curtain Wall 20:37 - Sophie Pennetier - The Manufacturer's Perspective: Glass, Aluminum, Holistic Bidding, and Circularity 40:35 - Q&A Discussion of facades and the important role they have at the intersection of operational performance and embodied carbon design. Speakers: Sophie Pennetier - Associate Director, Special Projects at Enclos Sophie holds 14+ years of experience in the design of complex structures and facades. She joined Enclos in 2018, where she has steered various projects’ specialty facades scope sales and design assist efforts, engaged in prototyping, modular curtainwall systems, and various research topics such as ultra-thin glass, facades acoustical analysis and sustainability. Sophie authored several research papers on structural glass and has been involved in the development of US structural glass codes with ASTM, the Journal of Architectural Engineering as an Associate Editor, and the Facades Tectonics Institute where she has served as a Paper Reviewer, in the 2020 Congress Organizing Committee and Special Advisory Council. Isabelle Hens - MS student in Building Science, Technology and Sustainability Isabelle Hens is an MS student in Building Science, Technology and Sustainability at UC Berkeley. She previously obtained her BS in Architectural Engineering from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium and her MS in Architectural Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. Isabelle aims to use parametric design to improve multidisciplinary collaboration in early-stage building design by providing designers with simulation-based performance feedback, ultimately allowing them to reduce the operational and embodied energy and design more energy-efficient buildings. Find more information and past videos at https://www.clf-la.org/.

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 Los Angeles

Embodied Carbon Policy

Los Angeles has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, as outlined in the pLAn, LA's Green New Deal. Pursuant to this responsibility, in November of 2020, the City of Los Angeles became one of the first signatories of the C40 Clean Construction Declaration.

Declaration Commitment:

Reduce embodied emissions by at least 50% for all new buildings and major retrofits by 2030, striving for at least 30% by 2025.

Additionally, as of July of 2021, new construction projects by the State of California will be required to limit the maximum acceptable Global Warming Potential (GWP) for construction products as outlined by the Buy Clean California Act (BCCA).

These commitments and public policies are indicative of the significant changes required today and over the next decade to stay within reach of critical emissions targets set out by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Certification Systems that Address Embodied Carbon

 

LEED v4.1

Through the MRc1: Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction credit, projects can receive 1 LEED point just for performing an LCA study and up to 5 points for a 20% reduction in embodied carbon relative to a baseline building. 

 

CaGBC - ZCB Design v2

Requires calculating embodied carbon emissions through an LCA study starting at the Schematic Design phase. Also required to apply two "Impact and Innovation" strategies. 2 of the 5 pre-approved strategies are:

  1. An embodied carbon reduction of at least 20% compared to a baseline building.

  2. Upfront carbon emissions equal to or less than zero.

In ZCB Performance v2, 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.

Gallery

Gallery from Past Events

Team

Meet Our Team

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Laura Karnath, AIA

Senior Technical Designer

Walter P Moore

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Past Hub Leaders:

Kathleen Hetrick (Founding Member)

Jill Edelman (Founding Member)

David Wachtel (Founding Member)

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Luke Lombardi, P.E.

Senior Sustainability Consultant

Buro Happold

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Rachelle Habchi, P.E.

Low Carbon Product Lead

Carbon Leadership Forum

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Tsandi Chen

Structural EIT

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