IN SEPTEMBER, I ATTENDED THE GLOBAL CLIMATE ACTION SUMMIT (GCAS) in San Francisco as a delegate of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). I also attended two affiliated events: The Carbon Smart Building Day and Climate Heritage Mobilization. I've been working on reducing Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from buildings for the last decade or so, and while none of what I learned came as a big surprise, I did come away with a clearer idea of the challenges we are facing and also more hopeful about the potential solutions.
The GCAS website states: "The decarbonization of the global economy is in sight. Transformational changes are happening across the world and across all sectors as a result of technological innovation, new and creative policies and political will at all levels. States and regions, cities, businesses and investors are leading the charge on pushing down global emissions by 2020, setting the stage to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century.​​" Community activists and indigenous populations also called for more inclusive, bottom-up solutions. It was good to see people who usually do not have a voice being heard.
The Carbon Smart Building Day focused on buildings and had great keynote talks by Ed Mazria of Architecture 2030 and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute. Session topics ranged from reducing and storing embodied carbon, to retrofitting existing buildings, to creating highly efficient new buildings. Architecture 2030 introduced the Zero Code and the Materials Palette.
Things are also more hopeful than we thought. And we can be part of sharing the leverage points for accelerating positive change.