Zahra Teshnizi

Senior Planner | City of Vancouver

Zahra Teshnizi is a Senior Planner at the City of Vancouver, where she leads the implementation of the Embodied Carbon Strategy under the City's Climate Emergency Action Plan, which targets a 40% reduction in emissions from construction materials and practices in new buildings by 2030. She holds a Master’s in Advanced Studies in Architecture from the University of British Columbia and brings over a decade of experience in research, industry engagement, and consulting. Her areas of expertise include whole-building life cycle assessment (wbLCA), mass timber construction, and circularity practices. Zahra has been instrumental in shaping Vancouver’s embodied carbon policies, including the first requirements under the Green Building Policy for Rezoning and the regulatory provisions in the Vancouver Building By-law. She also supports national alignment on embodied carbon through advisory roles with the Canada Green Building Council and the National Model Code’s Task Group on Embodied Emissions.