Chris Magwood
Author, Teacher, Researcher, Contractor and Founder of the Endeavour Centre
Carbon Drawdown Now: Turning Our Buildings into Carbon Sinks
Chris Magwood is obsessed with helping reverse climate change by making carbon-storing buildings that are also healthy, beautiful, efficient and inspiring and assisting others to do the same.
In 2022, Chris joined the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Embodied Carbon initiative within RMI’s Carbon-Free Buildings team. From 2011-2022, Chris was a director and teacher at The Endeavour Centre, a not-for-profit sustainable building school in Peterborough, Ontario.
In 2019, he helped to establish Builders for Climate Action, and has been leading development of the BEAM carbon estimator tool for low- rise construction. He is working closely with many levels of government to develop embodied carbon benchmarks and regulatory programs, and helping developers and builders figure out how to reverse climate change with their buildings.
Chris has authored seven books on sustainable building and is co- editor of the Sustainable Building Essentials series from New Society Publishers. His new book, Building Beyond Zero: New Ideas for Carbon-Smart Architecture, is co-authored with Bruce King and will be available in June, 2022 from Island Press. In 1998 he co-founded Camel’s Back Construction, a design-build firm focused on straw bale construction and renewable energy.
Chris has completed an MA at Trent University. His thesis, Opportunities for Carbon Removal and Storage in Building Materials which was published in the fall of 2019.
Chris is an active speaker and workshop instructor in Canada and internationally.