Embodied GHG Symposium 2025 held at U of T

The Centre for the Sustainable Built Environment and the School of Cities recently hosted the Embodied GHG Symposium 2025, drawing more than 250 attendees, including industry professionals, academics and policy-makers. This year’s symposium, the second annual iteration, addressed the dual challenges of expanding Canadian infrastructure and housing in response to population growth, while meeting targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions.

L to R: Professors Marianne Hatzopoulou, Daman Panesar, Shoshanna Saxe, Marianne Touchie, and Aryan Rezaei Rad. (photo by Galina Nikitina)

Held May 7 at the Rotman School of Management, the event opened with remarks from Professor Marianne Hatzopoulou, Chair of the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering, and Professor Shoshanna Saxe, Director of Sustainable Urban Infrastructure and chair of the symposium.

The Sustainable Built Environment team — Professors Evan Bentz and Daman Panesar — joined discussions alongside CivMin faculty Professors Aryan Rezaei Rad and Marianne Touchie. Together with other participants, they examined the critical role of sustainable construction practices in reducing embodied GHG emissions.

The Embodied GHG Symposium presented current research, policy developments and case studies, and provided networking opportunities for attendees. A poster session showcased projects focused on reducing resource use and embodied GHG emissions across various scales—from buildings to cities—in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector.

By Galina Nikitina