CU Boulder's Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering and the Structural Engineering Institute co-hosted a symposium June 26-27 focused on advancing the structural engineering profession toward zero carbon. 

The event, which drew 166 participants to CU Boulder’s campus, marked an industry-wide step toward cutting emissions tied to building materials like steel and concrete, said Assistant Teaching Professor Jay Arehart, the organizer of the event.

“Bringing together people from 65 different companies shows that sustainability isn’t limited to just a few firms—it reflects collective action across the structural engineering profession to drive toward zero carbon,” Arehart said.

Towards Zero Carbon 2025: Summit & Symposium explored design practices and materials that reduce embodied carbon—the greenhouse gases emitted during the production, transport and disposal of building materials. Achieving “zero carbon" means balancing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted with the amount removed from the atmosphere, resulting in no net emissions.

Arehart said he believed it was the largest gathering to date of structural engineers focused on embodied carbon reductions.

Teaching Professor Jay Arehart organized the event, 
which attracted 166 participants.

Alexis Feitel, PE, an embodied carbon innovation and technical director with KL&A Structural Engineers in Golden, said KL&A’s entire “Team Carbon” and the company’s CEO attended the event.

“It boosted our embodied carbon technical training and energized us to progress toward zero carbon,” he said. 

Utsav Dahal, a CU Boulder PhD student in architectural engineering, said he decided to attend the symposium after taking a life cycle assessment class with Arehart. 

“As someone who believes in sustainability—even in mechanical systems—I wanted to learn more about embodied carbon,” said Dahal, whose research focuses on building energy efficiency and the impact of retrofitting existing buildings. 

Dahal said the symposium was enriched by the real-world insights from industry professionals, and that he would “definitely recommend this event” to others, noting that carbon reduction is a shared goal across all construction disciplines. 

“There’s still a lot to learn,” Dahal added.