Extreme weather events driven largely by human-induced climate change are becoming more frequent as wild fires, droughts, and historic flooding headlines continuously emerge.
Such calamities place an enormous strain on our built environment. Outdated infrastructure is overwhelmed under the pressure of severe weather, while buildings and equipment, not originally designed to withstand such extremes, are endangering lives by failing more often.
Yet there are reasons for optimism. The built environment, rather than being merely a victim of climate change, is playing a critical role in adapting to and mitigating its most devastating impacts. Several exciting developments illustrate that a sustainable, resilient future is within reach.
Carbon Plummets
Consider the U.S. building sector’s remarkable achievement: by 2023, CO2 emissions had plummeted by an impressive 31% from 2005 levels, surpassing the significant emissions drop witnessed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This reduction is a powerful testament to the effectiveness of planning and designing low- and zero-carbon buildings, implementing passive and nature-based design solutions, scaling up renovation, equipment upgrades, and building electrification, improved energy codes, and the adoption of renewable energy sources.
Even more remarkable, retrofitting, renovating, reusing, and adapting existing buildings now account for nearly half of all U.S. architecture billings. This growing trend of upgrading our existing building stock rather than tearing down and building new offers numerous advantages, including increased building resilience, strengthened community identity, lower construction costs, reduced waste, and lower embodied and operational carbon emissions.
