It is often said that there is substantial momentum in the built environment community around climate action, and I think we are seeing evidence of that in many ways. Part of that momentum is due to a growing body of resources that are more robust and accessible than ever. This season, Climate Positive Design and Architecture 2030 have introduced new tools and resources. We asked Pamela Conrad, Founder and Executive Director of Climate Positive Design, and Erin McDade, Senior Programs Director at Architecture 2030, to talk about what’s new and what gaps these resources are designed to fill.
Kira Gould (KG): Please describe what you’ve been working on this year that is now being made public.
Pamela Conrad (PC): We’ve recently released Pathfinder version 3.0. It is an LCA tool designed for professionals in the exterior built environment to evaluate and improve the carbon impact of their projects. In addition to expanding the dataset and aligning with industry standards, we’ve added infrastructure project types and materials as well as adding in ways to measure related benefits including biodiversity, water conservation, cooling, and equity. The free, web-based tool comes with a user guide and updated methodology report. It is my hope that with this expanded resource, we can help implement the strategies in recent reports we contributed to this past year including Achieving Decarbonized and Climate-Resilient Built Environment by C40 and Nature Positive: Guidelines for the Transition in Cities from the World Economic Forum.
Erin McDade (EM): Architecture 2030, with the support of Climate Positive Design, published two new frameworks this year to support the decarbonization of the built environment, with a specific focus on landscape and infrastructure. The Climate Action Planning for the Built Environment Framework is a consolidation of disparate Climate Action Plans and guidance that transcend stakeholder groups. The resultant Framework is universally applicable to built environment professionals, and contains guidance for both entities and their project portfolios. The Decarbonization Framework for Planning, Landscape, and Infrastructure provides key strategies to reduce embodied carbon in infrastructure, landscapes, and land use planning. Designed for planners and policymakers, it addresses carbon emissions at regional, city, neighborhood, and development levels. By showing how planning and policy decisions impact embodied carbon, it offers practical solutions across all scales, enabling maximum reductions prior to design and construction.
We also participated in the World Economic Forum Building Tomorrow’s Urban Infrastructure Task Force development of Implementing a Life-Cycle Approach to Infrastructure: A Policy Roadmap for Cities to help cities take a decisive step to reduce the carbon footprint of their built environment and reach their climate-neutrality and net-zero emissions targets.
Finally, with Climate Positive Design we expanded the 2030 Palette, a visual database of sustainable design principles, strategies, tools and resources, to more comprehensively support the decarbonization of landscape and infrastructure, updating existing swatches and adding new ones including: Coastal Seaforestration Drawdown, Afforestation, Regenerative Peri-Urban Agriculture, and Water-Smart Landscapes And Systems.
KG: Can you tell us more about the potential impact improvements you see in the exterior built environment, sites and infrastructure?
PC: We've long known that cities account for 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions (UN Habitat), but our recent collaboration has shed light on a critical detail: over 40% of these emissions come specifically from buildings, infrastructure, and sites. And since a significant portion of this is attributed to only three primary materials—concrete, steel, and aluminum, we are concentrating our efforts on decarbonizing these sectors from both supply and demand perspectives.
In addition, there is a global push to break down the separation between mitigation and adaptation, climate change and the biodiversity crisis. This is particularly important in the exterior built environment. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) address global challenges such as the climate and biodiversity crises while supporting ecological, social, and economic benefits. This may take the form of a living shoreline for example that protects from rising seas, utilizes low embodied carbon construction like earthen berms versus concrete and steel, and promotes habitat and public access. Not only does this support adaptation, mitigation, and biodiversity, NbS can also cost-effectively cool cities and clean the air we breathe while supporting healthier communities.
EM: While many see the benefits of these approaches, there are still challenges to overcome. The good news is that we’re seeing a shift in policies and projects employing innovative methods to reduce exterior built environment emissions and employ nature-based solutions. Creative approaches like these and the examples outlined in the Decarbonization Framework for Planning, Landscape, and Infrastructure demonstrate the viability of dramatically reducing material emissions and centering nature-based solutions via policy and planning, and provide important precedents for scaling landscape, infrastructure, and material decarbonization across the globe.
The State of Oregon, for example, implemented a policy to increase residential density around priority public transportation corridors to promote sustainable urban growth and reduce transportation, infrastructure, and building carbon emissions. The policy sets minimum residential density limits within urban growth boundaries, mandating a minimum of 75 residential units per acre within one-quarter mile of a priority transportation corridor and 45 residential units per acre within one-half mile. These corridors include rail transport, bus rapid transit lines, and bus routes with frequent service.
And design firm Arup has been working on innovative timber bridge designs, in collaboration with universities and infrastructure providers, which are constructed using sustainably sourced timber and designed to last at least 100 years.
KG: Erin, what groups are involved in this space, who are key stakeholders impacting the exterior built environment?
EM: Decisions made in the policy and planning phases often have the greatest impact on project emissions, making planners and policymakers critical stakeholders in the decarbonization of the built environment. Organizations such as C40 Cities and their Clean Construction Forum and the Carbon Leadership Forum (check out their Policy Toolkit) are supporting these early decision makers.
In addition, designers across the transect are innovating within their firms and industry organizations, facilitating the development of industry-wide commitments such as the American Society of Civil Engineers' Infrastructure 2050 program and the Sustainable Construction Leaders’ Contractor’s Commitment, as well as cross-industry initiatives like the Embodied Carbon Harmonization and Optimization (ECHO) Project and World Economic Forum’s Implementing a Life-Cycle Approach to Infrastructure: A Policy Roadmap for Cities.
Separately, industry organizations including the American Society of Landscape Architects, the International Federation of Landscape Architects, the Landscape Architecture Foundation, and the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure continue to develop resources to support designers, planners, and policymakers, such as Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Envision.
KG: Pamela, where are you seeing momentum?
PC: One key takeaway from last year’s COP28 Global Stocktake in Dubai is the mandate for all countries to develop adaptation plans by 2025 and demonstrate significant implementation progress by 2030. This requirement is in addition to meeting their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement for emissions reductions. This year, I will be leading a workshop at COP29 in collaboration with the UN to help countries outline and overcome challenges to implementing low-carbon Nature-based Solutions in support of their National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). It’s encouraging to see goal-setting transition to actionable steps at the UN level in just one year.
KG: Tell us about the resources: What is new, what are the updates and why?
PC: Thanks to the support from the ClimateWorks Foundation, MKA Foundation, STV Engineering, and SmithGroup we just launched Pathfinder 3.0 – a free, web-based app that helps designers of the exterior built environment improve project climate performance. The new version comes with an updated methodology report, guidance documents and, based on user feedback, the update also includes the following:
1) More Materials and Specifications: We’ve added hundreds of more materials, especially those high emitters like concrete and steel, along with more options for specifying, like distances and transportation type. Our dataset is now aligned with Carbon Conscience and EPIC (Early Phase Integrated Carbon assessment) to support the transition from planning to more detailed design phases, and aligns with ECHO (Embodied Carbon Harmonization and Optimization coalition) recommendations. It also includes the preservation and restoration of various ecosystem types.
2) Expansion into Infrastructure and Civil Engineering: You’ll now see infrastructure project types and more civil materials added, and we’re collaborating with ASCE’s Infrastructure 2050 program to help with their industry data reporting.
3) Inclusion of Benefits: To align with what’s happening at the global level, we’ve now added features for measuring biodiversity, water use and conservation, cooling, and equity. These are just a start, and we see much more opportunity for continued expansion.
4) Baselining: While teams can continue to meet the goals of the Climate Positive Design Challenge, we’ve found that many times clients are looking for performance improvements to a designated “baseline” design, so you can now compare those metrics, which also helps to understand how your project is reaching 50% emissions reductions by 2030.
EM: As substantial progress is made in decarbonizing our buildings, Architecture 2030 has expanded our focus to the exterior built environment, a significant source of emissions with huge potential to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. As such we have updated our research on the impact of the built environment on global emissions and expanded our suite of tools and resources to support full built environment decarbonization.
Highlights include the addition of planning, landscape, and infrastructure-focused swatches to the 2030 Palette, the development of our Actions for the Built Environment page and complementary Built Environment Holistic Framework for Emissions Reduction (see illustration), and the comprehensive Decarbonization Framework for Planning, Landscape, and Infrastructure highlighting more than 30 innovative policy, planning, and project examples from across the globe.
KG: This is an important new batch of materials. I think the “benefits” piece is big, and I’m excited to learn that will grow in the future. Many of these tools are rightly geared toward the technical side of the work, and understanding the benefits is critical for how we communicate about these strategies. Tell me more about who these resources are for. And how do you hope they will be used?
PC: We hope these resources can be used by all involved in the planning, design, and construction of the exterior built environment. Whether you are a policymaker, planner, landscape architect, civil engineer, or contractor, all of these resources are meant to support your effort in making a more climate and biodiversity positive future.
KG: At this stage, we often hear “we know how to do this,” and yet many in the AEC community are still struggling to consume, comprehend, and perhaps most important, prioritize the vast array of information related to climate action strategies. What advice do you have for them?
PC: We can’t manage what we can’t measure. Start there by checking out Pathfinder 3.0 and if you need further guidance be sure to have a look at the Climate Positive Design Toolkit summary and detailed guidance. That’s definitely enough to get you started and on the right path!
EM: Not all climate actions have equal impact potential. Given the urgency of the climate crisis, prioritization is critical. For example, thinking at the planning and land use scale about sufficiency, proximity between uses, mobility, and reuse can yield significant results. Refer to the Built Environment Holistic Framework for Emissions Reduction to help frame climate action priorities, and utilize the 2030 Palette to implement passive, nature-based, reuse-focused solutions.
The views and conclusions from this author are not necessarily those of ARCHITECT magazine.
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