Skanska, a global leader in sustainable building, has restructured its Sustainability Team to better serve client and company goals. Co-led by Steve Clem and Myrrh Caplan, who together bring decades of experience, the team will allow Skanska to continue to set the bar for the industry.
“Steve and Myrrh are central to our commitment to sustainability,” said Steve Stouthamer, Executive Vice President, Project Planning, Skanska USA Building. “As Senior Vice Presidents, they’ll leverage Skanska’s global and domestic initiatives to protect our environment and ensure the resilience of the communities we build in. By harnessing their collective expertise, we can make significant strides toward our decarbonization goals while continuing to set the bar for sustainable industry practices.”
With Clem and Caplan at the helm, Skanska is well positioned to support clients and maximize opportunities for sustainability consulting, as state and federal agencies implement stricter sustainability requirements for buildings and construction. Skanska’s robust Sustainability Team, located throughout the country, will continue supporting Clem and Caplan with helping clients meet and exceed their sustainability goals, advancing industry and client outcomes through innovation and research, and identifying opportunities to create more value-add solutions.
Since joining Skanska as a Project Manager in 2005, Caplan has helped shape Skanska’s national approach to sustainable building. She established the company’s first national Green Construction program and chaired Skanska’s first National Green Council. Throughout the past decade, she has managed multiple initiatives including carbon lifecycle analysis and efforts that benefit clients and the industry. Caplan leads Skanska's National Sustainability Team, made up of consultants and advisors.
Caplan was named a 2022 LEED Fellow by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), one of twenty professionals from around the world recognized for their work in advancing green building practices. To date, Caplan has advised on nearly 300 certified projects and projects seeking LEED, Living Building Challenge, WELL, Envision, and other certifications. In 2023, Caplan co-created the Associated General Contractors of America Task Force on Decarbonization and Carbon Reporting to address the challenges around reporting and reducing carbon emissions within construction. She sits on the board of mindfulMaterials, serves on several industry committees, and participates in research with key partners.
Steve Clem joined Skanska as a project engineer in 1997 and over the years, established himself as one of Skanska’s staunchest sustainability leaders. In his role, Clem is responsible for setting and achieving Skanska’s decarbonization goals in the United States and works with construction teams to identify sustainable procurement solutions for clients including the use of mass timber. Clem’s efforts to reduce the industry’s embodied carbon began over 15 years ago and he has been influencing procurement with the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3 Tool) since Skanska co-created and launched the tool in 2019. Clem has also authored multiple cost studies that demystify the adoption of environmentally preferable construction strategies.
Clem spearheaded Skanska’s early participation in the Living Building Challenge – first with the influential Living Building Challenge Financial Study and then with the Bertschi School project. He holds certifications from the US Green Building Council, International Living Future Institute, and OSHA, among other accrediting agencies. Clem is also president of the construction safety non-profit, SafeBuild Alliance, and sits on the board of Building Transparency, which manages the EC3 Tool.
The built environment accounts for nearly 40 percent of carbon emissions globally, with approximately 11 percent embodied in construction materials and an estimated 28 percent stemming from building operations. To reduce its impact on the planet, Skanska has had a long trajectory of environmental accomplishments under Clem and Caplan’s leadership:
- Skanska set an ambitious target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 in its own operations and across its entire value chain. As an interim target, its development operations aim to achieve a 70 percent reduction by 2030.
- Skanska has been working on mass timber projects for more than a decade, improving construction schedules while reaping the environmental, health, and aesthetic benefits.
- Skanska has delivered over 44 million square feet of space that has been certified across several systems including LEED®, Envision™, Green Globes, Fitwel and Living Building Challenge. On our own development projects, we target a minimum of LEED® Gold, with many projects achieving LEED Platinum.
- Skanska supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to address issues like climate action, sustainable cities and communities, and responsible consumption and production.
- Skanska is ISO 14001 certified to ensure consistent environmental performance and continuous improvement. Skanska’s ISO 14001 certification program has been recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council.
- Skanska partners with organizations to transform the industry, investing in research and technology, and pioneering sustainable construction practices.
More Information on Skanska’s Sustainability Initiatives:
About Skanska
Skanska uses knowledge & foresight to shape the way people live, work, and connect. More than 135 years in the making, we’re one of the world’s largest development and construction companies. We operate in select markets throughout the Nordics, Europe and the United States. Skanska in the U.S. is headquartered in New York City with 29 offices around the country. In 2022, construction in the U.S. generated $6.9 billion in revenue, and as a developer in the U.S., Skanska has invested a total of $3.5 billion in commercial and multi-family projects. Together with our customers and the collective expertise of our 6,500 teammates in the U.S. and 28,000 globally, we create innovative and sustainable solutions that support healthy living beyond our lifetime.
Related Stories
| Dec 17, 2010
Vietnam business center will combine office and residential space
The 300,000-sm VietinBank Business Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, designed by Foster + Partners, will have two commercial towers: the first, a 68-story, 362-meter office tower for the international headquarters of VietinBank; the second, a five-star hotel, spa, and serviced apartments. A seven-story podium with conference facilities, retail space, restaurants, and rooftop garden will connect the two towers. Eco-friendly features include using recycled heat from the center’s power plant to provide hot water, and installing water features and plants to improve indoor air quality. Turner Construction Co. is the general contractor.
| Dec 17, 2010
ARRA-funded Navy hospital aims for LEED Gold
The team of Clark/McCarthy, HKS Architects, and Wingler & Sharp are collaborating on the design of a new naval hospital at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. The $451 million project is the largest so far awarded by the U.S. Navy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The 500,000-sf, 67-bed hospital, to be located on a 70-acre site, will include facilities for emergency and primary care, specialty care clinics, surgery, and intensive care. The Building Team is targeting LEED Gold.
| Dec 17, 2010
How to Win More University Projects
University architects representing four prominent institutions of higher learning tell how your firm can get the inside track on major projects.
| Dec 13, 2010
Energy efficiency No. 1 priority for commercial office tenants
Green building initiatives are a key influencer when tenants decide to sign a commercial real estate lease, according to a survey by GE Capital Real Estate. The survey, which was conducted over the past year and included more than 2,220 office tenants in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, the UK, Spain, and Japan, shows that energy efficiency remains the No. 1 priority in most countries. Also ranking near the top: waste reduction programs and indoor air.
| Dec 7, 2010
Blue is the future of green design
Blue design creates places that are not just neutral, but actually add back to the world and is the future of sustainable design and architecture, according to an interview with Paul Eagle, managing director of Perkins+Will, New York; and Janice Barnes, principal at the firm and global discipline leader for planning and strategies.
| Dec 7, 2010
Green building thrives in shaky economy
Green building’s momentum hasn’t been stopped by the economic recession and will keep speeding through the recovery, while at the same time building owners are looking to go green more for economic reasons than environmental ones. Green building has grown 50% in the past two years; total construction starts have shrunk 26% over the same time period, according to “Green Outlook 2011” report. The green-building sector is expected to nearly triple by 2015, representing as much as $145 billion in new construction activity.
| Dec 7, 2010
USGBC: Wood-certification benchmarks fail to pass
The proposed Forest Certification Benchmark to determine when wood-certification groups would have their certification qualify for points in the LEED rating systemdid not pass the USGBC member ballot. As a result, the Certified Wood credit in LEED will remain as it is currently written. To date, only wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council qualifies for a point in the LEED, while other organizations, such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, the Canadian Standards Association, and the American Tree Farm System, are excluded.
| Dec 6, 2010
Honeywell survey
Rising energy costs and a tough economic climate have forced the nation’s school districts to defer facility maintenance and delay construction projects, but they have also encouraged districts to pursue green initiatives, according to Honeywell’s second annual “School Energy and Environment Survey.”
| Dec 2, 2010
Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments adds Kohler's Robert Zimmerman to Board of Directors
Robert Zimmerman, Manager – Engineering, Water Conservation & Sustainability at Kohler Co., in Kohler, Wisconsin, has joined the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Sustainable Built Environments. In his position at Kohler Co., Rob is involved with all aspects of water conservation and sustainability related to plumbing fixtures and faucets.
