Embodied carbon is being increasingly recognized for its central role in the carbon impact of the built environment. The City of Toronto is leading the way for other Ontario municipalities by developing a toolkit of guidelines in order to reduce the carbon impact of construction from a variety of angles. This toolkit was developed jointly by Mantle Developments and Ha/f Climate Design, with funding provided by The Atmospheric Fund.
Ha/f Climate Design examined urban design strategies and undertook extensive whole building life cycle assessment (LCA) modeling to understand the embodied carbon impact of various design decisions. These results were then used to develop a series of design recommendations to minimize embodied carbon.
Mantle Developments led the investigation into more sustainable circular construction and procurement policies. This included a scan of cutting-edge policies from around the world, as well as a gap analysis of current policy in the City of Toronto. Mantle and Ha/f engaged City staff in a number of working group meetings to brainstorm how these recommendations could be integrated into Toronto policy.
Access the Toolkit here. This can be saved locally, and users can add their own project-specific notes.
Download the Summary Recommendations document here.