The remarkable decarbonization of the U.S. building sector with record CO2 emissions reductions: a story in six charts; &
After IPCC updates, what are our odds of staying below 1.5°C?
Building reuse represents a significant opportunity to avoid carbon emissions in the critical near term. The CARE Tool has dramatically streamlined the process of quantifying the carbon savings of a retrofit vs new construction, enabling owners, communities, and design teams to quickly quantify the carbon benefits and understand the value of reuse.
Architecture 2030, together with ASHRAE and the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES), hosted an Official Blue Zone Side Event at COP27 on Nov 16: Planning, Design and Development in the Global South: The How To for People + Planet.
Pamela Conrad, an Architecture 2030 senior fellow and principal with CMG Landscape Architecture in San Francisco, explains why architects must focus sustainability efforts on the outdoor realm and exterior build environment.
Architecture 2030 is now managing the CARE (Carbon Avoided Retrofit Estimator) Tool and seeking support for its development. The CARE Tool allows users to compare high-level total carbon projections for reusing and upgrading existing buildings with replacing them with new construction.
The COP26 Official Side Event hosted by Architecture 2030 and ASHRAE featured the 1.5°C COP26 Communiqué and select signatory organizations.
The world is quickly depleting its 1.5°C carbon budget of 340-400 GT CO2, and waiting until 2050 to achieve zero emissions means giving up the 1.5°C goal altogether.
The U.S. building sector has not increased its energy consumption since 2005 even though we have added over 50 billion square feet (4.7 billion square metres) to our building stock, and today CO2 emissions in the entire sector continue to decline and are down 30% from 2005 levels.
The built environment generates 40% of annual global CO2 emissions. Of those total emissions, building operations are responsible for 27% annually, while building and infrastructure materials and construction (typically referred to as embodied carbon) are responsible for an additional 13% annually.
Architecture 2030’s key strength is its grounding in and connection to the building industry. We provide cutting edge thought leadership as we align the architectural, planning, and building community and political leaders around the urgency of achieving zero emissions by 2040.
Achieving a zero carbon built environment requires actions in existing buildings, new buildings, and embodied carbon.
For almost two decades, with modest resources, Architecture 2030 has achieved impressive shifts in outlook and practice within the U.S. and global building sectors. We create the initiatives necessary to empower designers, policymakers, and educators to facilitate systemic change and achieve a zero carbon built environment.
Architecture 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from the major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions to a central solution to the climate crisis.