The following description comes from the event organizer.

The Structural Engineers Foundation is thrilled to announce details for its 12th Annual Fall Forum. “Focus on the Footprint: Making Strides in Building Sustainably” will address efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate embodied carbon in the built environment.

The keynote speaker will be Kate Simonen of the University of Washington and the Carbon Leadership Forum. To round out a discussion that traverses the building industry, Kate will be joined by Katie Ross of Microsoft, Kjell Anderson of LMN Architects, Chris Jeseritz of PCS Structural Solutions, and Stacy Smedley of Building Transparency.

While the concept of a “carbon footprint” is widely understood, the concept of “embodied carbon” is a bit more abstract. Just how much carbon is emitted to produce a steel beam, a cubic yard of concrete, a glass chandelier, or even a doorknob? The architecture, engineering, and construction industry has made incredible progress in the last decade quantifying carbon impacts, identifying strategies for improvement, and enacting real change – and the efforts still in the works are impressive. How do the various players work together? What is at risk here? How are structural engineers contributing to the conversation? And most importantly – what happens now?

SEFW invites you to the 12th Annual Fall Forum, where representatives from across the building industry will dive into embodied carbon and the efforts to reduce it and ultimately achieve net zero. Learn more on topics ranging from environmental product declarations and decarbonizing building materials to construction calculators and industry initiatives – and much more. The Forum will help quantify our carbon impact, inspire innovation, and align the industry disciplines as we focus on the footprint of what we design and construct.