City of Nelson Wins ‘Commitment to Change’ Award – Carbon Leadership Forum British Columbia
May 3, 2023
Nelson, BC - The City of Nelson recently won the Commitment to Change award at the inaugural B.C. Embodied Carbon Awards Night for its leading work to address embodied carbon emissions.
The "Commitment to Change" category celebrates organizations that have taken action to reduce embodied carbon by pursuing systemic change and have contributed substantively to elevating the topic of embodied carbon in B.C. and beyond. Embodied carbon refers to the emissions produced through the manufacturing, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of building materials.
As a whole, the B.C. Embodied Carbon Awards celebrate leaders achieving embodied carbon reduction in building processes across the province and emphasize the importance of addressing embodied carbon as we pursue low-carbon building design.
"Nelson's leadership on embodied carbon is yet another example of our willingness to innovate and its steadfast commitment to working collaboratively with our community and local industry," says Mayor Janice Morrison. "The City is deeply honoured to have received this award and grateful to the countless organizations and individuals that offered their support in Nelson's pursuit to advance and elevate the topic of embodied carbon."
Nelson's first-of-its-kind embodied carbon benchmarking study and low-carbon home consultations with builders and designers were highlighted as reasons for its selection.
These awards were given out by Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF) British Columbia, formerly known as CLF Vancouver. CLF British Columbia is now a program specialty area of the Zero Emissions Building Exchange (ZEBx), part of the Metro Vancouver Zero Emissions Innovation Centre (ZEIC).
"We congratulate the City of Nelson for their leadership and innovation in energy efficiency and reducing emissions," says Ben Nishi, manager of commercial energy solutions at FortisBC. "Both energy efficiency and emissions reduction is a significant component of our own vision to transform B.C.'s energy future, and we work closely with municipalities towards this shared goal."
The City of Nelson would also like to take this opportunity to thank members of its Embodied Carbon Advisory Group: Michele DeLuca (Harmony Engineering), Mike Coen (Build Environmental), Menush Akbari (Harmony Engineering), Marc Brillon (Ellenwood Homes), Nelson Rocha (Studio 9 Architecture), Dan Thompson (Rokform), Tom Giltanen (3West Building Energy Consultants), Rod Taylor (Rod Taylor Design), Mike Hood (Straightline Carpentry), and Adam Brady (Cover Architecture). Their enthusiastic and sustained participation has been integral to the success of this work.
In photo: Natalie Douglas (Climate Resilience Planner at the City of Nelson), Caroline Butchart (Embodied Emissions Program Manager at ZEBx), and Minister Heyman (B.C.'s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy)

Media Contact:
Cecilia Jaques, Senior Climate & Energy Strategist – City of Nelson cjaques@nelson.ca
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