Panel: Aligning Policy & Practice - Where Do We Go Next? | Building Resilience Gathering 2026

What can we learn when aligning around embodied carbon reduction? This panel explores how policy, industry, and design practice are aligning to accelerate embodied carbon reduction in the building sector. Short, high-impact presentations – From core concepts to real project case studies, hear from industry leaders on the tools, policies, and strategies shaping low-carbon construction in Manitoba. 0:00 - 0:27 Introduction 0:28 - 17:21 Stephanie Dalo 17:22 - 32:40 Kelly Alvarez Doran 32:41 - 55:55 Zahra Teshnizi 55:56 - 1:00:11 Q&A Speaker: Stephanie Dalo, Program Manager, Carbon Leadership Forum BC Stephanie is a licensed Professional Engineer in British Columbia and Ontario and is the Program Manager of the Carbon Leadership Forum in British Columbia (CLF BC), a program powered by the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre (ZEIC). Starting her professional journey as a structural engineer, specializing in bridge rehabilitation, her passion for sustainability. After completing the UBC Master of Engineering Leadership, Urban Systems program, she began working on mixed-use, multi-family residential, commercial, institutional, and office buildings, guiding project owners in identifying their sustainability strategy, coordinating and facilitating communication between design teams to keep projects on track towards meeting their sustainability goals. This included conducting Whole Building Life Cycle Assessments to determine a project’s embodied carbon impact and proposing low-carbon design solutions. Recognizing the intersections between waste, carbon, and affordability, Stephanie advocates for implementing circular economy strategies in the built environment as a holistic strategy for reducing both embodied carbon and construction & demolition waste and supporting social equity. Kelly Alvarez Doran, Co-Founder, Ha/f Climate Design Kelly is a father, architect, and educator. His work takes a whole-systems view of the built environment, shaped by practice across multiple geographies and sectors. Early experience in resource development, followed by his role as MASS Design Group’s East Africa Director, grounded his understanding of how design decisions compound across social, environmental, and economic scales. In 2022, Kelly co-founded Ha/f Climate Design to help Canadian designers, planners, and policymakers cut emissions and improve resilience through practical, implementable guidance. Kelly is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, a Senior Fellow at Architecture 2030, serves on the RAIC Committee on Regenerative Environments, and hails from Winnipeg. Zahra Teshnizi, Senior Planner – Embodied Carbon, City of Vancouver Zahra Teshnizi is a Senior Planner with the City of Vancouver, leading the City’s Embodied Carbon Strategy to achieve a 40% reduction in embodied carbon in new buildings by 2030. She led the publication of Vancouver’s first Embodied Carbon Guidelines, enabling the addition of whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (wbLCA) reporting and embodied-carbon limits in the Vancouver Building By-law. The Guidelines were later adopted as Canada’s National wbLCA Practitioner’s Guide, now referenced by leading jurisdictions and programs including the CAGBC Zero Carbon Building Standard. Zahra pioneered North America’s first embodied-carbon reporting requirements through Vancouver’s 2017 Green Building Policy for Rezoning, laying the policy groundwork for today’s data-driven approaches to embodied carbon reduction. She supports policy harmonization through advisory roles including the National Model Codes Embodied GHG Emissions Task Group and CAGBC’s Embodied Carbon Technical Advisory Group. She regularly speaks at events and conferences and helped organize the past two National Embodied Carbon Summits. This Building Resilience Gathering session was hosted on April 15th, 2026. Watch other Building Resilience Gathering 2026 sessions in our playlist:    • Building Resilience Gathering 2026   Subscribe to hear from industry leaders on what embodied carbon means for Manitoba’s building sector, and where we’re headed. Special Thanks to Our Event Sponsors: ► Efficiency Manitoba: https://efficiencymb.ca/ ► Manitoba Environmental Industries Association: https://www.meia.mb.ca/ ► Assiniboine Credit Union: https://www.acu.ca/personal Stay updated with SBM: ► Instagram:   / sustainablebuildingmanitoba   ► Facebook:   / sustainablebuildingmanitoba   ► LinkedIn:   / sustainablebuildingmanitoba   ► Website: https://www.sustainablebuildingmanito... ► Become a member: https://www.sustainablebuildingmanito...