diff --git a/src/material/core/_m2-app.scss b/src/material/core/_m2-app.scss
index 243b99800765..cf781eb6fafb 100644
--- a/src/material/core/_m2-app.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/_m2-app.scss
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 @use 'sass:map';
-@use './theming/inspection';
 @use './style/elevation';
 @use '../core/tokens/m2-utils';
 
@@ -19,9 +18,7 @@
   );
 
   @for $zValue from 0 through 24 {
-    $elevation-color: inspection.get-theme-color($theme, foreground, elevation);
-    $shadow: elevation.get-box-shadow($zValue,
-      if($elevation-color == null, elevation.$color, $elevation-color));
+    $shadow: elevation.get-box-shadow($zValue, map.get($system, shadow));
     $tokens: map.set($tokens, 'app-elevation-shadow-level-#{$zValue}', $shadow);
   }
 
diff --git a/src/material/core/m2/_theming.scss b/src/material/core/m2/_theming.scss
index bdd7cff4cc05..854b22a6925d 100644
--- a/src/material/core/m2/_theming.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/m2/_theming.scss
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@
       hover-state-layer-opacity: 0.04,
       focus-state-layer-opacity: 0.12,
       pressed-state-layer-opacity: 0.12,
+      shadow: black,
       primary: map.get($primary, default),
       on-primary: map.get($primary, default-contrast),
       secondary: map.get($accent, default),
@@ -167,6 +168,7 @@
       hover-state-layer-opacity: 0.04,
       focus-state-layer-opacity: 0.12,
       pressed-state-layer-opacity: 0.12,
+      shadow: black,
       primary: map.get($primary, default),
       on-primary: map.get($primary, default-contrast),
       secondary: map.get($accent, default),
diff --git a/src/material/core/style/BUILD.bazel b/src/material/core/style/BUILD.bazel
index 663f7ffff165..906d6af56d3e 100644
--- a/src/material/core/style/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/src/material/core/style/BUILD.bazel
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ sass_library(
     deps = [
         ":elevation",
         "//src/material/core/theming:_inspection",
+        "//src/material/core/tokens:m2_utils",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/src/material/core/style/_private.scss b/src/material/core/style/_private.scss
index 026717998738..9274ce8365be 100644
--- a/src/material/core/style/_private.scss
+++ b/src/material/core/style/_private.scss
@@ -1,18 +1,15 @@
 @use './elevation';
-@use '../theming/inspection';
+@use '../tokens/m2-utils';
+@use 'sass:map';
 
 @mixin private-theme-elevation($zValue, $theme) {
-  $elevation-color: inspection.get-theme-color($theme, foreground, elevation);
-  $elevation-color-or-default: if($elevation-color == null, elevation.$color, $elevation-color);
-
-  @include elevation.elevation($zValue, $elevation-color-or-default);
+  $system: m2-utils.get-system($theme);
+  @include elevation.elevation($zValue, map.get($system, shadow));
 }
 
 @mixin private-theme-overridable-elevation($zValue, $theme) {
-  $elevation-color: inspection.get-theme-color($theme, foreground, elevation);
-  $elevation-color-or-default: if($elevation-color == null, elevation.$color, $elevation-color);
-
-  @include elevation.overridable-elevation($zValue, $elevation-color-or-default);
+  $system: m2-utils.get-system($theme);
+  @include elevation.overridable-elevation($zValue, map.get($system, shadow));
 }
 
 // If the mat-animation-noop class is present on the components root element,