Ryan Zizzo

Founder & CEO

Ryan Zizzo MASc, PEng, LEED AP ND, is a professional engineer with over 15 years of climate-smart construction project management experience across Canada and Europe. He creates and implements sustainability strategies that help clients understand, track and reduce their environmental impacts and exposure to climate change risk. Focus areas include net-zero strategies, green building certifications, embodied carbon life cycle assessment, and climate resiliency.

Ryan currently teaches a graduate course in low-carbon construction materials and life cycle assessment at Toronto Metropolitan University's Faculty of Engineering & Architectural Science. His work has directly supported an update to the Toronto Green Standard v4, North America's first policy to limit embodied carbon on certain types of new building construction. He has also contributed to the development of the Government of Canada's Standard on Embodied Carbon in Construction.

His past experience includes managing and certifying LEED green building projects across Canada, lecturing graduate courses on life cycle assessment at Finland’s largest Technical University, and providing green building education seminars throughout Europe. Ryan holds engineering degrees from Queen’s University (BScEng), the University of Toronto (MASc) and is a LEED AP ND.

Ryan has nearly 15 years of experience leading green building solutions across Canada and Europe. As a professional engineer and project manager, he helps built-environment designers, owners, and operators meet their sustainability goals. His expertise ranges from internationally recognized green certifications such as LEED to local sustainability requirements like the Toronto Green Standard.

He is also an expert in embodied carbon and life cycle assessment (LCA) methods, having taught graduate-level courses on LCA and other green building concepts for two years at the largest technical university in Finland, the Metropolia University of Applied Science. Ryan has trained dozens of green building professionals through seminars organized by the national Green Building Councils in six European countries.

Ryan was previously a Project Manager with Halsall Associates (now WSP), one of Canada’s leading green buildings engineering/certification teams. In this role, he contributed to some of Canada’s most prominent green buildings.

Leading European experience was achieved through the three years Ryan spent living and working in Helsinki, Finland. Through his own freelance consultancy, ZED Consulting, Ryan contributed to numerous Pan-Nordic and European projects and gained experience with innovative green tools being used to guide Europe’s green transformation. He was strongly involved with Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership, through which Ryan contributed to leading sustainability teams in Frankfurt, Valencia, Copenhagen, and beyond.

Ryan is a frequent speaker and participant in green building events and programs. He is the co-chair of the Carbon Leadership Forum's Policy Focus Group, the CLF Toronto local hub, and is the Canada Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Steering Committee embodied carbon expert.

Ryan holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University, a Master's degree in Applied Science in Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering from the University of Toronto, is a licensed Engineer in the Province of Ontario, and holds a LEED Accredited Professional designation in Neighbourhood Development.

Awards and Recognition

Canada Clean50 2024 award. Link.
Canada’s Clean50 2020 Emerging Leader Award Finalist.
Construction Canada Magazine, 2020 Emerging Leader Award Finalist (runner-up).

Selected Governance

Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC): Embodied Carbon Technical Advisory Group Member; Served as the Embodied Carbon Expert on the Zero Carbon Steering Committee (2018-2023).
Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF): Advisory Board Member; Founder of CLF Toronto Hub. Past Chair of CLF Buildings Working Group and Policy Working Group.
National Research Council of Canada’s Low Carbon Assets through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA2) initiative: Steering Committee and Technical Committee member.

Publications

Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Commercial Real Estate. Canadian Standards Association. March 2023. Link.
Regulating Embodied Emissions of Buildings: Insights for Ontario’s Municipal Governments. Policy Primer. August 2022. Link.
Strategies for low carbon concrete: a primer for federal government procurement: low carbon assets through life-cycle assessment (LCA)² initiative. National Research Council Canada. 2021. Link.
Life cycle GHG assessment of a building restoration: A case study of a heritage industrial building in Toronto, Canada. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020.
Municipal World. Moving toward net-zero construction. Low-carbon materials and municipal green development standards. January 2022.
Net zero is a necessity. (contributing author). Municipal World. August 2021.
Canada’s new climate plan needs a consistent approach to net-zero buildings. ReNew Canada magazine. May/June 2021.
Life cycle GHG assessment of a building restoration: Case study of a heritage industrial building in Toronto, Canada. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020.
Integrating Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) into Ontario’s Infrastructure Planning and Decision-Making. Three reports: 1) LCA on Completed Building Projects; 2) LCA for Transportation Infrastructure; 3) Considerations for Broader LCA Implementation. Ontario Ministries of Infrastructure and Transportation. 2018
Embodied Carbon of Buildings and Infrastructure: International Policy Review. Forestry Innovation Investment. 2017
Addressing Carbon Debt – Finding Emissions Reductions in Infrastructure Construction. ReNew Canada. 2017
Life Cycle Assessment for Building Renovations. Nordic Built Challenge Magazine. “Fremtidssikring af Velfærdsbyen”. June 2015
Green Buildings are not a Fad. Zagrebacka Banka (a leading Croatian bank). November 2014
Blue and White…and Green! Finland leads the Nordic countries with the most LEED and BREEAM certified buildings. Article featured on Green Building Council Finland website. September 2013
Getting to Carbon Neutral: A Guide for Canadian Municipalities. Contributing Author. Toronto & Region Conservation Authority. 2009

Presentations

Global Cities Panel on Clean Construction. World Economic Forum’s Net Zero Carbon Cities: L.A. City Sprint. November 2023.
Regulating Embodied Carbon in Buildings. Saint-Gobain 10^th Annual Architecture Symposium. Vaughan, Ontario. November 2023.
Understanding Scope 1, 2 and 3 Carbon Emissions and How They Impact Sub Trades. Reenvisioning Commercial Real Estate for a Net Zero Future. Vancouver, BC. October 2023.
Carbon reduction is coming: Canadian Building Codes, ESG, and Planning for the Future. Ontario Home Builder’s Association (OHBA) Annual Conference. Collingwood, Ontario. September 2023.
Circular Economy Principles and Whole-Life Carbon Impacts in Canada's Commercial Real Estate Sector. Air & Waste Management Association Conference. Waterloo, Ontario. September 2023.
Embodied Carbon and Policy Updates. Lafarge. July 20, 2023.
Mass Timber Construction at Canadian Nuclear Labs Chalk River Facility: Environmental Impact Study. Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Annual Conference. April 25, 2023.
Benchmarking Embodied Carbon in Construction. The Buildings Show. Toronto, Ontario. November 30, 2022.
The Complete Carbon Story – Net Embodied Carbon. Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) Virtual Conference. November 16, 2022.
Materials Matter. Low embodied carbon buildings. Better Buildings Boot Camp 2022 - Plenary Session. August 23, 2022.
Accelerating to Zero – Reducing Embodied Carbon through LCA. CAGBC paid event. Panelist. May 12, 2022.
Benchmarking Embodied Carbon in Ontario. Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) Annual Conference. May 11, 2022.
Materials Matter. Four industry workshops were hosted with the City of Toronto, the University of Toronto, and Passive Buildings Canada. April-June 2022.
Calculating Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Lecture to undergraduate and graduate courses on life cycle assessment. Department of Engineering. The University of Calgary. February 17, 2022.
Calculating Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Lecture to graduate course on society and forest conservation, master of the forest conservation program. John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. The University of Toronto. February 8, 2022.
Embodied carbon policy standards in Toronto. Presentation to CLF Toronto. December 13, 2021.
Tackling Upfront Embodied Carbon. 1-hour virtual presentation. CaGBC Building Lasting Change Annual Conference. October 26, 2021.
Introduction to the Climate Lens. 1-hour virtual presentation to QUEST Canada’s Community Energy Planning and Implementation Network (CEPIN). April 2021.
Building Community Resilience Centres at the YMCA of Greater Toronto. Building Lasting Change Event by Canada Green Building Council. October 2020.
Integrating Life Cycle Assessment into Infrastructure Planning and Decision Making. The Buildings Show / Construct Canada. (Toronto, Ontario). December 2019.
The Carbon Blind Spot: embodied carbon in construction. Turkstra Talks @ the University of Waterloo, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. (Waterloo, ON) November 2019.
The Growing Importance of Embodied Carbon. Green Building Baltics Conference. (Vilnius, Lithuania). November 2019.
Building Resilient Communities. Launch event for Toronto’s Climate Resilience Strategy. (Toronto, Ontario). June 2019.
Procuring low-carbon solutions. Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual Conference. (Quebec City, Quebec). May 2019.
Embodied Carbon in Ontario’s Infrastructure. Presentation to Infrastructure Ontario. (Toronto, Ontario). March 2019.
Building Resilient Communities. Launch event for Toronto’s Climate Resilience Strategy. (Toronto, Ontario). June 2019.
Procuring low-carbon solutions. Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual Conference. (Quebec City, Quebec). May 2019.
Canada Green Building Council, Zero Carbon Building Program, Embodied Carbon Roundtable. “Global embodied carbon policies”. (Toronto, ON). October 2018
Green Building Professional Course. “Life Cycle Assessment and Cost”. (Latvia and Lithuania). October 2018
Developing a Low-Carbon Canada through assessing the environmental impact of infrastructure projects using life cycle assessment. “Insights from recent LCAs on Canadian construction projects – gaps for considerations”. (Ottawa, ON). October 2018
Low Carbon Building Skills Event. “Embodied Carbon”. (Toronto, ON). September 2018
Carbon Smart Buildings Day. “Greener construction materials and processes”. (San Francisco, CA). September 2018
Energy Summit 2018. “Embodied Carbon, Global Policy Development”. (Vaughan, ON). May 30, 2018
University of Toronto, Department of Civil Engineering. Presentation for the graduate class: “Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainability of Engineering Activities”. (Toronto, ON). May 7, 2018
Engineers Canada. Why and How to Incorporate Climate Change Considerations into Public Infrastructure in Newfoundland and Labrador. “Professional Responsibilities and Legal Liability”. (St. John’s, NL). March 8, 2018
Integration of life-cycle assessment (LCA) into infrastructure decision-making. Ontario Ministry of Infrastructure. “Embodied Carbon Policy in Construction – International Best Practices”. (Toronto, ON). October 16, 2017
The Building Show. “Embodied Carbon Minimization Through Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment at New YMCA”. (Toronto, ON). November 30, 2017
Green Building Professional Course. “Life Cycle Assessment and Cost; and Green Building Materials”. (Montenegro, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). October 2017
British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). “Embodied Carbon Minimization Through Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment at New YMCA”. (Vancouver, BC). September 21, 2017
University of Victoria, School of Civil Engineering. Environmental Seminar Series. “Embodied Carbon Minimization Through Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment at New YMCA”. (Victoria, BC). September 20, 2017
ICLEI Livable Cities Forum. “The Circular Economy: Creating Climate Resilient Economies” (Victoria, BC). September 19, 2017
Green Building Professional education webinar – Romanian Green Building Council. “Green Building Facades”. February 1-2, 2017
The Buildings Show – Construct Canada. “Lifecycle Assessment Application in LEED v4 and Envision® Framework”. (Toronto, ON). December 1, 2016
The Real Property Institute of Canada (RPIC) National Workshop. “Implications of Not Accounting for Climate Change Vulnerabilities”. (Ottawa, ON). November 15, 2016
The National Water and Wastewater Conference. “Municipal Legal Liabilities”. (Toronto, ON). November 13-14, 2016
Presentation to Ontario Ministries of Environment and Climate Change, Infrastructure, and Treasury Board Secretariat. “Life Cycle Assessment as a tool for low-carbon construction and its use in Ontario”. (Toronto, ON). November 9, 2016
ICLEI Living Cities Forum. “Codifying Resiliency: LEED’s new Resiliency Pilot Credits”. (Halifax, NS). September 12, 2016
Grey to Green Conference. “Reconceptualizing Green Infrastructure for Climate Change”. (Toronto, ON), June 2, 2016
Nordic Built: Active Roofs & Facades in Sustainable Renovation. “Evaluation Methods for Sustainable Renovations” (Copenhagen, Denmark). May 19-20, 2016
Green Building Professional education lectures. “Life Cycle Assessment & Costing, Green Design Principles, and Sustainable Materials & Resources”. Multiple presentations in 2014 and 2015 for Green Building Councils of: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Croatia
European Models of Supporting Academic Entrepreneurship. “Encouraging Student Entrepreneurship: Success Stories from Finland”. (Wroclaw, Poland). May 2015
Seminar for property owners and managers. “LEED – What you need to know”. Kiinko Real Estate Education. (Helsinki, Finland). October 2013
Nordic Green Building Conference. “LEED Version 4 Update”. (Helsinki, Finland). January 2013
Canadian Green Building Council 2011 National Symposium. “Tomorrow’s Green Communities: Tools for Change; Community Energy Plans”. (Toronto, ON). 2011
University of Toronto 2^nd Year Civil Engineering Class. Sustainable Communities”. (Toronto, ON). September 2011 and September 2010
5th International Conference in Industrial Ecology, International Society for Industrial Ecology. “Designing an Optimal Urban Community Mix for Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage”. (Lisbon, Portugal). June 2007

Media

Municipal World. Moving toward net-zero construction. Low-carbon materials and municipal green development standards. January 2022.
Municipal World. Net zero is a necessity. (contributing author). August 2021
Environmental Journal. "Toronto City Council Approves Strategy to Reduce Building Emissions to Net Zero." July 15, 2021.
One Click LCA. “Carbon Expert of the Month December 2019: Ryan Zizzo“. December 2019
Corporate Knights. “Closing the Carbon Loophole”. April 2018
BuildingGreen.com “Embodied Carbon on a Roll,” October 9, 2018

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