National Carbon Manager at Skanska Mark Chen
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
Release Date: 02/05/2025
Iryna Sukhodub on Building Ukraine's Green Future Through Wartime Reconstruction
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Iryna Sukhodub reveals how Ukraine's massive reconstruction effort is driving green building innovation—from IFI-funded sustainable housing for 4.5 million displaced people to the strategic shift from energy-only thinking to comprehensive sustainability that could reshape your project priorities. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Iryna Sukhodub is a Building Modeling and Simulation Specialist at iC consulenten Ukraine and Associate Professor at the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute." Honored...
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Herbert Koomson on Transforming Waste Management Through Data-Driven Audits
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Herbert Koomson reveals how waste audits uncover 50% recyclable materials hiding in trash streams and why the future of sustainability messaging isn't about saving the planet—it's about saving your bottom line. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Herbert Koomson transitioned from engineering to sustainable design at West Virginia University, where Professor Chris Haddix guided him to pass the LEED GA exam before graduation. He began his sustainability career with the NYC Department of Sanitation, educating major restaurant chains about...
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Morgan Holl on Transforming Waste Into Circular Building Materials
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Morgan Holl reveals why "connectivity drives circularity" in recycling and how his glass processing innovation tackles the 38% of landfill waste from construction—plus the strategic insight that could transform your approach to sustainable materials sourcing. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Morgan Holl is a current founder in the sustainability space, with past C-suite experience in general management, strategic planning, corporate development, and product innovation. Previously, he's led product teams encompassing both long-cycle...
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Hamed Soroush on Turning the Subsurface Into Clean Energy Batteries
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Hamed Soroush reveals how subsurface thermal energy storage can cut data center cooling power by 80% while creating 6-month energy batteries from underground rocks—plus the mindset shift that transformed his oil & gas expertise into breakthrough clean energy solutions. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Hamed Soroush is a subsurface engineering expert and entrepreneur who has led over 350 consulting projects across seven countries. As founder of Teverra, he's pioneering technologies that transform underground formations into long-term...
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Larry Lessard on Scaling Geothermal Networks for Maximum Climate Impact
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Larry Lessard reveals why geothermal systems are 400-600% more efficient than fossil fuel alternatives and how network geothermal is revolutionizing district-level sustainability—plus the strategic insight that could reshape your approach to renewable energy priorities. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Lawrence (Larry) Lessard is an applied scientist with a career encompassing hydrogeology, contaminated site remediation, and geothermal system design and installation. He is the founder of both Lessard Environmental, Inc. and Achieve...
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Ross Guberman on the AI-Powered Waste Management Revolution
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Ross Guberman reveals how AI sensors and tech-enabled waste management can slash building operating costs while hitting zero waste targets—turning dumpster diving into data science. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Ross Guberman is a seasoned executive with a strong focus on sustainability and environmental management. Currently serving as the SVP of Sustainability at Recycle Track Systems, he has a proven track record of leading organizations towards high profit and impactful practices. His diverse experience includes founding and...
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Caroline Vanderlip on Scaling the Circular Economy with Re:Dish
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Caroline Vanderlip reveals how to tackle the trillion-unit packaging waste crisis by making reuse as convenient as disposal—and why the built environment holds the key to scaling circular economy solutions. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Caroline Vanderlip is a high-energy senior executive who pivoted from building digital media empires (including launching CNBC) to revolutionizing the circular economy. Four years ago, she discovered the burgeoning concept of moving the world away from single-use toward reuse—and it came to define her...
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Bonny Gray on Revolutionary Water Systems, Building Re-Use, and the Future of Prefab Construction
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: LEED Fellow Bonny Gray reveals how she built the world's largest cistern under a parking garage, battles "LEED-like" terminology that's undermining green building credibility, and why prefabricated construction might be the key to scaling sustainability. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Bonita Tice Gray, AIA LEED AP BD+C, is Director of Sustainability and Quality at Method Architecture and a 2022 LEED Fellow—the green building industry's most prestigious professional designation. Selected as one of only 20 distinguished green building...
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Sean Ronnie Hill on Passive House Design and the Future of Low-Energy Buildings
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Sean Ronnie Hill shares how his journey from a freezing, poorly built Belfast home to founding Rise Design Studio led to breakthrough insights on passive house principles, embodied carbon calculations, and the massive shift toward all-electric buildings—essential knowledge for green building professionals navigating today's sustainability landscape. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Sean Ronnie Hill is the Director and Architect at RISE Design Studio, a Sustainable & Regeneration Architect, Passivhaus Designer, Retrofit Expert, and Member...
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Angela Gill Nelms on Sustainable Innovation in Healthcare and Technology
The Green Building Matters Podcast with Charlie Cichetti
The Green Impact Report Quick take: Angela Gill Nelms shares how interdisciplinary approaches and customer-centered innovation can transform healthcare while creating more sustainable outcomes—offering valuable lessons for green building professionals seeking to drive change in their organizations. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion Angela Gill Nelms is an accomplished entrepreneur, philanthropist, and board member with a diverse background in SaaS and medical device technology. She excels in building teams and companies centered on global corporate culture, strategic...
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Mark Chen, National Carbon Manager at Skanska, a global construction and development firm. Mark has over nine years of industry experience and has worked on a range of projects with high sustainability goals, including LEED, ILFI Living Building Challenge, and Zero Carbon certifications.
Mark also brings expertise in corporate emissions reporting, corporate emissions reduction strategy, embodied carbon accounting and reduction strategy utilizing the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, and construction activity embodied carbon accounting and reduction strategy.
His most recent project experience includes managing the sustainability strategy for a multi-billion-dollar campus redevelopment project, a multitude of data center projects, and many other project types across the country.
Show Highlights
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Air quality issues in Southern California fostered a lifelong interest in sustainability and the desire to improve the built environment.
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Mark’s knowledge of sustainability and carbon reduction strategies in construction projects as the
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Leading initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and drive sustainability efforts as the National Carbon Manager at Skanska.
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Skanska's climate commitments:
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70% emissions reduction by 2030, net-zero by 2045.
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Use of alternative clean fuels, research on electric and hydrogen-powered equipment.
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Focus on embodied carbon in construction
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Tracking emissions across projects, with varying levels based on client requirements.
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Providing embodied carbon assessments for structural materials on all projects using EC3 tools.
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Decarbonization in construction material manufacturing, innovation in electric and hydrogen equipment, digital footprint concerns
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Use of alternative clean fuels, research on electric and hydrogen-powered equipment.
"Becoming comfortable being uncomfortable and realizing that putting yourself in those uncomfortable positions and situations - while in the moment doesn't feel great - is where the most growth comes from."
-Mark Chen
Get the episode transcript here!
Show Resource and Information
Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES
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