Kate Simonen on building decarbonization and scaling impact

Architect and structural engineer Kate Simonen is a leader, teacher, researcher, and convener -- and a big believer in the collective impact model. She is also executive director of the Carbon Leadership Forum (a network of 25 regional hubs and thousands of practitioners) and Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington.

She has been a force behind collaborative initiatives such as the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator and the Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment. After practicing for years, Kate is an educator because she sees the role as ”part of my climate action responsibility.” Kate is thrilled to see all the different ways that embodied carbon is coming into policy -- from codes that call for low-carbon concrete to policy levers that address industrial decarbonization. Under Kate’s leadership, a consortium (CLF at UW, in partnership with Endeavour Center, University of Colorado-Boulder, and Building Transparency) is a finalist for the Lever for Change program with a project that proposes to convert buildings to carbon sinks by storing carbon in buildings using biogenic materials.