Zero carbon design choices increasingly shape long term asset planning, regulatory alignment, and stakeholder expectations. CAGBC’s Zero Carbon Building – Design Standard v4 provides a structured framework for assessing embodied carbon limits, non-combustion heating criteria, refrigerant reporting, grid citizenship considerations, and transition planning. Life cycle cost analysis offers a consistent method for understanding how these requirements influence cost pathways across the life of a project. This session will show how combining ZCB-Design v4 with life cycle cost analysis supports clear and transparent evaluation during early design. Through anonymized examples, participants will see how project teams can examine cost implications related to capital needs, operational profiles, maintenance strategies, equipment renewal, and end of life considerations. The emphasis is on supporting informed internal decision making and improving communication with owners, executives, and governance committees. The session focuses on enabling confident choices through structured analysis rather than forecasting financial outcomes.