New Study:
The 2030 Blueprint:
Solving Climate Change Saves Billions, Good for the Economy, Jobs
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Global Warming, Climate Change,
and the Built Environment

Rapidly accelerating climate change (global warming), which is caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is now fueling dangerous regional and global environmental events. Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration illustrates that buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of all GHG emissions annually. Seventy-six percent of all electricity generated by US power plants goes to supply the Building Sector. Therefore, immediate action in the Building Sector is essential if we are to avoid hazardous climate change.

Architecture 2030 Mission

Architecture 2030, a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization, was established in response to the global-warming crisis by architect Edward Mazria in 2002. 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the US and global Building Sector from the major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions to a central part of the solution to the global-warming crisis. Our goal is straightforward: to achieve a dramatic reduction in the global-warming-causing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of the Building Sector by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed and constructed.

We are achieving our mission by galvanizing both the building industry and the nation to adopt and implement the 2030 Challenge, a global initiative stating that all new buildings and major renovations reduce their fossil-fuel GHG-emitting consumption by 50% by 2010, incrementally increasing the reduction for new buildings to carbon neutral by 2030.

We issued the 2030 Challenge in January 2006, and since that time, numerous groups have signed on and are now working to implement its targets, including the US Conference of Mayors (Resolution #50), American Institute of Architects (AIA), US Green Building Council (USGBC), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA/Target Finder), Royal Architecture Institute of Canada (RAIC), International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Union Internationale des Architectes (UIA), and many, many others.