July 14, 2026

GF's Chrissie Walsh Discusses Climate Resilience and Sustainable Building on And So It Flows Podcast

By Maddy Dolby

Chrissie Walsh, Regional Head of Environmental Sustainability – Americas at GF, had the opportunity to once again speak about sustainability, systems thinking and the changing expectations around modern buildings on BNP Media’s And So It Flows podcast. The podcast focuses on all things tech, trades, and trends within the PHCP-PVF industry.

This is Walsh’s second appearance on the podcast. In her first episode, she discussed how systems thinking can help reach sustainability goals in modern buildings. You can listen to that episode here.

“Climate resilience in our environment is no longer a theoretical,” Walsh said. “All of us as individuals are really seeing, and feeling, the climate change impacts more and more every year, and it comes down to a day-to-day thing.”

She added that increasingly extreme weather events are raising awareness among building owners and municipalities that infrastructure decisions made today must be designed to perform effectively over the long term.

In the episode, titled “What’s Changed in a Year?” Walsh goes on to discuss the role wholesalers and distributors can have on making sustainability more approachable and easier to integrate into the jobsite, such as advocating for smarter packaging.

Contractors and installers can integrate better practices on the jobsite by mitigating risk perception by attending trainings and learning new marketable skills, such as installing hydronic and radiant systems. Walsh encouraged contractors and installers to also embrace “the pause.”

“Pausing is a good thing to do personally, but also professionally. You know, ‘Where is my opportunity to make small changes and become more comfortable in this space?” she said.

Walsh also discussed sustainability trends she believes are receiving too much attention. She said the industry places too much emphasis on labeling an individual product as “sustainable” instead of evaluating the performance of an entire building system.

“We need to be careful not to focus too narrowly on one thing being the sustainable answer, because it’s ultimately about the system, the system longevity,” Walsh explained. “We think about mechanical systems, sustainability outcomes — they’re driven by system performance over the course of decades. It’s not just the environmental attributes of one single component of that system.”

Instead of focusing on one product being labeled as sustainable, Walsh said the industry should focus on the water-energy nexus. She noted the industry should also consider the circularity of materials and products.

Walsh concluded that professionals should consider the bigger picture when selecting building materials. Rather than focusing on a single characteristic, she recommended professionals evaluate a product’s life cycle, durability, performance, and recyclability.

To listen to the full episode, click here.