AIA furthers climate action efforts, releases new data on carbon neutral future and attends Climate Week NYC

WASHINGTON – September 24, 2024 – The American Institute of Architects (AIA) continues to advance climate action within the built environment through cross-collaboration with industry partners and climate program milestones towards progress on building decarbonization and materials specification goals. This includes the following key events of this month:

• AIA participating in Climate Week NYC, a global convening of private industry, public sector, and NGOs to promote cross-collaboration of climate action. The AIA kicked off Climate Week on Saturday, September 21 by supporting a UN Summit of the Future Action Days Side Event hosted by the International Union of Architects (UIA) on the importance of the built environment to creating a more resilient and inclusive world in the face of climate change.  Held at AIA New York, “Housing Our Future: Architecture for a Greener, Safer, & More Affordable Habitat” featured distinguished speakers from UN-HABITAT, UNESCO, the Government of Brazil, and the Government of France. 
  
       o    Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, 2024 AIA President to speak at Benjamin Menschel Civic Projects Lab (CPL) pop-up exhibit. President Dowdell will join Mokena Makeka, 2023/2024 South African Institute of Architects President and CPL Director in conversation at Gelman Gallery, 41 Cooper Square, on September 25th at 1pm to discuss the state of architecture and climate action around the world.
• AIA publishes the 2030 By the Numbers (RY23) annual report. The 2030 Commitment is a global architecture and building industry initiative, aimed at achieving a carbon-neutral future. The 'By the Numbers' report tracks the progress and delineates the strides made by architects and designers towards this ambitious goal. This year’s highlights include 490 signatory firms reporting over 24,000 projects culminating in approximately 3.9 billion gross square feet. Projects reporting embodied carbon almost tripled from the previous year and reported net zero projects jumped to 430 predicted projects, an increase of 24 percent from last year.  Architecture 2030 and the U.S. Department of Energy have been longstanding partners to the AIA 2030 Commitment as the program marks a 15-year history.
• AIA Materials Pledge closes its first year of data reporting. Dedicated to transforming the industry to a more holistic materials specification practice, the Materials Pledge boasts over 280 signatory firms since its inception in 2018. July-September concludes the program’s first data reporting window, which included mandatory firm-level metrics and optional project- and product-level metrics regarding material health from 92 reporting signatory firms.

“Climate change is the greatest global challenge of our time,” said 2024 AIA President, Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, NOMAC. “Architects are being called upon to serve as guardians of our climate through expert stewardship of the built environment. Programs such as the AIA 2030 Commitment and the AIA Materials Pledge are designed to empower architects to help make their communities more sustainable, resilient, and equitable."

Learn more about AIA’s work to advance climate action in the built environment.