IMEG’s mechanical engineering decarbonization efforts take center stage in this episode, the second in a three-part series on the firm’s 2026 Whole Carbon Action Plan (WCAP).

Guest Lindsey Chappelle, an IMEG senior sustainability & energy engineer, explains that the mechanical component of the plan aligns with MEP 2040, the industry-wide mechanical decarbonization initiative. “This is the MEP firms’ commitment to be net zero operational carbon on projects by 2030 and net zero embodied carbon by 2040,” she says. “IMEG is a signatory of MEP 2040 and we have produced our mechanical plan, which has been incorporated into the Whole Carbon Action Plan.”

As with the WCAP’s structural and infrastructure initiatives, the plan lays out the goals, tasks, tools, and strategies for reducing and eventually eliminating operational carbon emissions (due to mechanical systems), embodied carbon of the mechanical equipment, and the carbon due to refrigerant leakage associated with certain HVAC systems. “Refrigerants are kind of weird. They don’t really fall into embodied carbon or operational carbon,” Lindsey says. “They’re kind of their own item.” Refrigerants, however, can have a sizeable impact. In one pilot project, leakage accounted for roughly 15% of total MEP-related carbon emissions.

While the industry has a firm grasp on how to reduce operational carbon, mechanical engineers face challenges in getting the data needed to address embodied carbon. Among the causes are Revit models that don’t include the number and brand of various types of equipment, and manufacturers who are slow to issue Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for mechanical equipment. These third-party documents, which Chappelle likens to “a nutritional facts label,” are essential for understanding the amount of embodied carbon in any piece of equipment. Unfortunately, as she points out, “a lot of vendors haven’t even heard of an EPD.”

To address this issue, IMEG and other firms aligned with MEP 2040 are strongly encouraging manufacturers to provide this information; some firms, including IMEG, are even signaling that future design specifications may require it.

Meanwhile, IMEG has efforts underway to integrate design tools with available databases to provide real-time feedback. “Ideally in the future, this is going to be some kind of automated calculation,” Lindsey says, allowing engineers to immediately see the carbon implications of their design choices.

Lindsey is excited to be helping to bring clarity to a once opaque aspect of building design. “There's always just been kind of a rule of thumb applied to the embodied carbon of MEP systems, and no one's taken the effort to calculate it. So it's exciting to just have the numbers and be able to back it up with reasonable resources and assumptions, see the overall carbon emissions related to a project, and then be able to make some great design decisions.”

To learn more, listen to part one in this series or read IMEG’s 2026 Whole Carbon Action Plan.

First in a three-part series.

Can an engineering firm reach net zero embodied and operational carbon on all its projects by 2050? If so, what must be accomplished between now and then? Answers to these questions and more are discussed in this episode featuring IMEG’s Director of Sustainability, Adam McMillen.

Adam has been working with IMEG’s multidisciplinary Sustainable Design Task Force to issue the firm’s 2026 Whole Carbon Action Plan, or WCAP. The 2026 WCAP is the third iteration of IMEG’s carbon reduction initiatives; the 2024 plan—then a structural-only document—was the first in an annual requirement of the embodied-carbon-focused SE 2050 Commitment Program. Since then IMEG has expanded its plan to include MEP and civil infrastructure initiatives. The 2026 WCAP therefore provides a comprehensive strategy for reducing embodied and operational carbon, continuing to align with SE 2050 as well as with MEP 2040, the mechanical-focused initiative. IMEG’s multidisciplinary plan is unique to the industry.

“It's one of our biggest differentiators,” Adam says of IMEG’s approach. “All these initiatives are in sync and everything's speaking the same language. We see the Whole Carbon Action Plan as an opportunity to simplify and streamline things as one solution—one low-carbon approach—that a client can really get behind.”

The WCAP is divided into four sections: Education, Report, Reduce, and Advocate—each one delineating individual and multidisciplinary goals and tasks, completed goals and tasks, and the tools that have been or will be created by IMEG to assist its designers in delivering time-efficient, scalable sustainable solutions.

While all sections of the WCAP are critical, the first, Educate, provides the means for achieving quick reductions at no additional cost. For example, just by understanding what embodied carbon is and the differing carbon levels of materials can have a big impact. “It’s a huge opportunity just to understand that if I choose recycled content in my steel, that makes a big difference,” says Adam. “Finding five to 10 things per discipline and getting people to “do this, not that” can lead to significant carbon reductions with no cost to the owner.”

The firm’s use of artificial intelligence does create a carbon footprint of its own from the energy used to run the computations at data centers. However, IMEG tracks its carbon footprint and has found that the project carbon reductions enabled by its sustainable designs far outweigh the AI carbon footprint of the design process. “For every one ton of carbon that we use by allowing AI to help us make better decisions, we reduce by 10,000 tons the carbon footprint of our projects,” says Adam.

How realistic is IMEG’s goal of achieving net zero embodied and operational carbon on all its projects by 2050?

“That’s a great question,” says Adam. “Yes, we're taking a risk by saying we're going to reach that. But why not set the framework to try?”

To learn more, read IMEG’s 2026 Whole Carbon Action Plan

Susan VanBenschoten, IMEG Director of Urban Design, Planning, and Engagement, joins host Joe Payne to discuss the expansive services and expertise of her team.

With 40 years of experience in the community planning and civil infrastructure industry, Susan previously was CEO of FHI Studio, a large planning firm in the Northeast that joined IMEG in 2024, bringing a new service line to the firm. She frames urban planning as the critical foundation upon which successful infrastructure and community outcomes are built. This early-stage focus, she says, defines what a project is before it advances into design, policy, or implementation.

“Urban design and planning is really an umbrella of dozens of different services that are integrated during the planning process,” she explains. These services reside in five major groups: transportation planning, engineering, and design; community planning, land planning, and urban design; environmental planning, resiliency planning, and permitting; landscape architecture; and community engagement—which is, Susan adds, “part and parcel to all the rest of the planning that we do.”

These services are used in various combinations, based on the needs of a project, and operate as an interconnected system. “Planning is very broad and by its nature needs to be multidisciplinary,” Susan says, emphasizing the importance of aligning technical, environmental, and social considerations from the outset. Central to this process is problem definition—often more complex than it initially appears. “You’re really backing up to the very beginning of a problem,” Susan says. Whether addressing congestion, land use, or economic challenges, her team relies on data analysis paired with direct community input. “We really try to use data-driven analysis to understand what the problem really is but also listen to the community so we understand what they see the problem is.”

While traditional public meetings and outreach continue to be conducted, technology has expanded the reach and effectiveness of community engagement. “We still hold meetings. We still do walkabouts—walking through communities and seeing firsthand what some of the issues are.” Technology, however, has created ways to involve more of the community with virtual meetings, online surveys, and virtual reality, which allows “people to visualize what we are talking about.”

Depending on the project, this process can result in a comprehensive “roadmap,” particularly in large-scale or area-wide planning efforts. Such a roadmap can include dozens of recommendations, ranging from immediate actions to long-term capital investments. Importantly, such plans are not static documents. “Planning documents are living documents,” Susan says, evolving alongside the communities they serve.

Susan and her team are eager to expand their work across the U.S., collaborating with IMEG’s civil infrastructure and MEP teams to bring more value and successful outcomes to clients. “That's the power of having planning and engineering and design all under one roof,” she says. “It's very much in line with IMEG's purpose of shaping and making better communities.”

Learn more about IMEG’s Urban Design, Planning, & Engagement services.