Carbon Wise Wins Innovation Maverick for Decarbonizing Solutions
Women-led energy and carbon modeler in Vancouver honoured in national awards
Built Green Canada announced winners in its annual Maverick Awards, which reward and profile leadership in sustainable building across three exclusive categories, receiving entries from British Columbia to Ontario. The 2026 Innovation Maverick Award recognizes creative ways sustainable building is progressing industry—this went to Vancouver-based Carbon Wise for showing exceptional leadership in the decarbonization revolution, addressing critical challenges in the built environment. This women-led organization shares their innovative work through case studies, presentations, builder education and policy collaboration, while supporting BUILT GREEN® projects.
Carbon Wise is a team of building science and policy specialists providing consulting services to optimize energy consumption and reduce embodied emissions in the construction sector. Working to foster innovation and expand access to carbon data, Carbon Wise advocates for holistic sustainability and greater resilience: helping industry rise to the challenges of climate change, while building healthier, greener communities. Their approach bridges the gap between climate policy and on-the-ground construction practices, equipping stakeholders with tools to implement sustainable solutions.
Carbon Wise provides comprehensive analysis and consultation on renewable energy solutions, low-embodied carbon material selection and sustainable construction practices. They emphasize the importance of integrating operational energy modelling with embodied carbon analysis at the project decision-making stage. Rather than treating energy performance and material impacts separately, Carbon Wise uses a whole-building lens to guide their work.
This approach aligns with Built Green Canada’s principles and certification pathways—making them a natural partner for Built Green builders; a recent standout project is the 2026 Transformational Maverick winner, Phoenix House, a BUILT GREEN® Net Zero Energy Ready+ certified project and Canada’s first Zero Carbon Certified home (Living Building Institute), which sets a new standard for sustainability by incorporating metrics for both operational and embodied emissions. This home is involved in multiple local and international studies.
Guided by such frameworks as Built Green’s third-party certification programs, and serving on the organization’s Technical Standards Committee, Carbon Wise continues to challenge conventional approaches to sustainability. Carbon Wise has championed BUILT GREEN® Net Zero Energy Ready+ houses, Passive-House designs, low-embodied-emissions retrofits, and new construction. They work with a range of projects, from Part 9 buildings to mid-rise and high-rise structures, as well as in policy collaborations with municipalities all the way to Québec.
One of Carbon Wise’s core values is a commitment to knowledge sharing—with their builders, but also with the wider industry: creating a domino effect that extends far beyond their own projects. Their work in whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) includes authoring some of Canada’s first LCA case studies, such as comparative analyses of renovation versus new construction, highlighting the significant carbon reduction potential of low-carbon renovations.
While their insights are accessible through publicly available case studies, they’re also involved in policy development and integrating greenhouse gas reduction and resiliency measures into the Net Zero label through the Canadian Home Builders’ Association’s working group. Meanwhile, they educate industry professionals through industry presentations and workshops, fostering knowledge exchange and accelerating the adoption of sustainable practices.
“We are driven by an urgent commitment to addressing climate change and decarbonizing the built environment,” says Founder and Principal at Carbon Wise, Elisabeth Baudinaud. “By combining technical rigor with values-driven leadership, we help industry move toward low-carbon, resilient construction in a way that is practical, inclusive and enduring.”
In 2020, Elisabeth was first exposed to the concept of embodied carbon through industry discussions and recognized it as a major blind spot in how buildings were being designed, regulated and evaluated. While operational energy was already embedded in policy and practice, the carbon impacts of materials and construction were largely unaddressed. This realization became the catalyst for the creation of the company.
At the time, the broader market was not ready. Data was limited, benchmarks were unclear and embodied carbon was often viewed as theoretical rather than actionable. However, Elisabeth recognized that this gap between emerging climate knowledge and industry practice represented an opportunity for meaningful change. Rather than waiting for demand to catch up, Carbon Wise was built to develop the technical expertise, tools and practical guidance needed ahead of the curve.
As industry awareness has grown, driven by evolving policy, municipal leadership and increased client interest, Carbon Wise has worked to continuously adapt to new research, regulations and market conditions, ensuring clients receive current, credible and practical advice. By translating policy intent into buildable solutions and feeding real-world experience back into guideline development, Carbon Wise helps bridge a long-standing disconnect that often slows progress.
Carbon Wise inspires industry to embrace more holistic, forward-thinking approaches, while their commitment to transparency and education has empowered stakeholders to adopt sustainable practices with greater confidence and effectiveness. They have been recognized through multiple awards, including the BC Embodied Carbon Awards in 2023 and 2024, the 2024 HAVAN Trailblazer Award, the BUILD 2025 LCA and Policy Award—and now the 2026 Innovation Maverick Award.
The Maverick Awards are another step forward in Built Green Canada's mission to progress sustainability practices and recognize leadership. Four winners have been announced: the Ambassador Award had a two-way tie between Effect Home Builders and Excel Homes, while the Innovation Award went to Carbon Wise, and Best Builders received the Transformational Award for their Phoenix House. The 2026 Mavericks are sponsored by title co-sponsors, Jayman BUILT and SkyFire Energy, alongside Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, Excel Homes and Alberta Real Estate Foundation.