The architecture profession is beginning to take the lead on climate action. I serve on the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment (COTE) at the state level. Our mission is to educate the profession on the methods and means of reducing carbon emissions and decarbonizing the physical built environment. Our goal is to reach zero carbon emissions by 2040. We are working to provide the profession with the resources and processes to drastically cut those emissions in time to avert the worst effects of climate change. Our challenge is to get out in front of eventual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreements so there is no time wasted in ramping up industry practices that can help us avoid catastrophic climate impacts on our ecosystem.

According to Architecture 2030—a nonprofit, nonpartisan, independent organization established in 2002 to respond to the ongoing climate emergency—the built environment is the largest single source of the world’s carbon emissions, contributing approximately 40 percent. If we take the embodied carbon of building interiors, systems, and associated infrastructure into account, that percentage is much higher.

The building sector is taking action to mitigate and adapt to climate change, with a relatively small number of organizations, firms, and subnational governments responsible for the majority of planning, design, construction, and development globally. By showing what is possible, the architecture, engineering, planning, and construction community is leading the way in teaching governments how we can transform our built environment into one that is climate-friendly.

If we act together now, we change the world. Learn more at:

• Architecture 2030: https://architecture2030.org/
• What Is a COP? https://ukcop26.org/uk-presidency/what-is-a-cop/
• Glasgow Climate Change Conference: https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/conferences/glasgow-climate-change-conference
• Greensward:Civitas: http://greenswardcivitas.blogspot.com/2021/07/new-sheriff-in-town.html
• AIA KnowledgeNet—Carbon Positive: COP26: https://network.aia.org/blogs/kira-l-gould/2021/08/24/carbon-positive-cop26

—Laurie Barlow, Communications Committee

Editor’s note: Laurie Barlow, AIA, CA COTE, is a past president of the American Institute of Architects,  Pasadena Chapter