A look at net-zero carbon progress in embodied carbon & renewable energy projects

The AIA 2030 Commitment is one of AIA’s key climate action programs uniting architecture and design firms in a pledge to work towards a net zero carbon built environment.

Connecting almost 1,300 signatory firms that represent over 62,000 AEC professionals, the 2030 network spans across a diverse set of practitioners dedicated to harnessing the architect’s role in mitigating climate change and reaching carbon neutrality in the coming decades.

To demonstrate their firm’s progress, every year between January to the end of March signatories report their project data into the Design Data Exchange (DDx), culminating into the annual 2030 By the Numbers report.  

What the numbers tell us

In this year's report, 428 companies reported a little over 3.8 billion gross square footage across 23,276 projects and 107 countries through the DDx. The 2030 By the Numbers report looks at the aggregated, predicted energy usage intensity (pEUI) across whole-building projects and predicted lighting power density (pLPD) for interior-only projects. Additionally, the data analysis covers trends regarding the following categories: energy modeling, building electrification, renewable energy, and embodied carbon data.

This year’s report highlights the following key takeaways:

• Over 15,000 whole-building projects reported a weighted average of 48% pEUI reduction.
• 8,565 whole-building projects – or 62% of whole-building GSF - were energy modeled.
• 707 all-electric buildings, totaling over 80 million GSF, and another 303 projects were at least 75% electrified, both numbers more than doubling in the past two years.
• 9% of total gross square footage reporting renewable energy steadily increases from 7% last year and 346 net-zero projects were reported, more than triple from five years ago.
• 124 firms reported 3,818 projects, three times the number of projects, from an additional 50 new firms, from 2021.

Notable is the rapid increase in projects reporting embodied carbon, signifying the move to measuring total carbon—rather than just operational carbon—that is critical for reducing the industry’s impact on the climate crisis. As the tracking of embodied carbon increases, so does the need to better improve the industry’s understanding of the numbers and how to collect the best quality data for embodied carbon.

And the momentum continues to grow: In working across networks, representatives from AIA from both the AIA 2030 Commitment and Architecture & Design Materials Pledge programs have joined with other allied industry organizations to collaborate on a common framework that will describe the major elements necessary to align and accelerate embodied carbon initiatives in the U.S.

“This year's quadrupling of the number of projects reporting Embodied Carbon is indicative of the increasing awareness of the importance of building materials and systems. [Working with other organizations] brings not only climate health, but also human and ecosystem health, social equity, and circular economy to the forefront,” said David Arkin, AIA, 2030 Working Group co-chair.

The AIA 2030 Commitment program continues to strongly encourage participating firms to include embodied carbon data from at least one project in the coming reporting years, with two key AIA resources (AIA-CLF Embodied Carbon Toolkit for Architects and the ROI: Designing for reduced embodied carbon) being a great foundation for those who don’t know where to start.

What does the 2030 Commitment mean for practice?

At the core of the 2030 Commitment remains the framework of tracking of a firm’s energy and carbon data across its portfolio as the key way to drive progress. 2030 Working Group co-chair Vanessa Hostick, AIA, comments, “Reporting through the 2030 Commitment is foundational for many firms to engage clients in conversations about improved energy efficiency, resilient design, and positioning for future performance ordinance compliance. In a post IRA world where we see increased renewable implementation and AHJs adopting more stringent codes, the 2030 Commitment continues to provide a platform for firms to track and reduce the energy and carbon footprint of their designs, something that new developments in the DDx this fall will help firms further document and leverage for better design and bigger impact.”

Net zero total carbon continues to be the goal of the program and as firms continue to engage, they increasingly see a positive shift in how they practice. By utilizing the DDx as a platform to congregate and better understand both individual projects and full portfolio’s energy performance, firms can ultimately make better, more climate-friendly, data driven decisions.

What’s next?

Simply signing onto the AIA 2030 Commitment isn’t enough – to engrain climate action into your firm’s practice requires creating a firm-wide sustainability action plan and reporting your portfolios into the DDx. Whether you’re already a signatory or you’re looking to join, our 2030 team is here to support you.

Here are steps you can take:

• Want to hear more about the report? Watch the on-demand AIAU session recorded on October 31, 2023. Register now >
• If you’re a signatory, join the 2030 Peer-to-Peer Community Hub by emailing us at 2030Commitment@aia.org. We’ll share upcoming webinars and reporting open office hours as well as provide a space for you to crowdsource information from your peers.  
• Check out key climate action and architectural practice resources: Creating a Sustainability Action Plan that works!, Climate Action Business Playbook, and the AIA+2030 Online Series Certificate Program.

A pivotal truth to addressing the climate crisis is that no one individual, project, or firm can do it alone. Collective action remains to be the steadfast way to both transform practice and in turn contribute to a more sustainable, zero-carbon future for everyone.