An AIA sustainability update
Published: April 21, 2021
The official theme of Earth Day 2021, “Restore Our Earth,” feels especially relevant after the extraordinary year we’ve just experienced. We can’t wait to restore normal life. But at the same time, the pandemic has vividly demonstrated opportunities to go beyond just restoring to improving, to building a more sustainable, resilient, healthy, just, and equitable world.
Despite the challenges of the past year, AIA’s climate action initiatives have moved forward without interruption – even achieving new milestones. Here’s a look back at some highlights of sustainability progress in 2020-2021.
Board of Directors adopts sustainable investment priorities
AIA’s commitment to sustainability encompasses all aspects of our operations, including financial investments. In the first quarter of 2021, AIA’s Board of Directors voted to move its long-term equity and fixed income investment portfolio to 100% sustainable investments. The strategy is guided by Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) criteria to screen companies and mutual funds for their adherence to these principles to ensure that the companies and funds in which we invest share our values. Under ESG criteria, investments will center on companies and funds that adhere to our priorities – such as being good environmental stewards, encouraging equitable and safe employment practices, and ensuring strong corporate accountability and transparency – while also maintaining the long-term investment returns that AIA expects to generate from its investment portfolio.
2030 Commitment achieves record participation
Even through pandemic setbacks and disruptions faced in 2020, a record-setting 311 firms contributed 2030 Commitment data – a figure we’re working to top in 2021. Participants reported more than 20,300 projects across 107 countries. For scale, the total GSF reported is nearly the size of New Mexico. Of the firms who submitted data, 27 met AIA’s goal of reducing energy demand of their entire portfolio by 70% or more.
Climate Action Plan released
The publication of AIA’s Climate Action Plan last year is a landmark. Developed over the course of one year and based on input from the full spectrum of AIA’s membership, the plan provides guidance to help architects achieve progress under three overarching goals: mitigating the sources, adapting to the impacts, and catalyzing action in the profession.
Framework for Design Excellence updated
The past year also saw critical updates to a critical tool: the Framework for Design Excellence. The framework’s 10 principles build upon a legacy of sustainability spearheaded by the Committee on the Environment (COTE) and are designed to be accessible to every architect, every client, and every project. The 2020 updates draw clearer connections to the intended impact: a zero carbon, equitable, healthy, and resilient built environment.
Design Data Exchange revamped
In addition to the Climate Action Plan and Framework for Design Excellence, AIA’s Design Data Exchange (DDx) is another vital tool to help architects achieve sustainability goals. Revamped in 2020, the new and improved DDX platform will streamline workflows and save time when reporting on projects. Recognizing that operational carbon is just one piece of the climate action puzzle, a key feature of the revamped DDx is the capability to track embodied carbon.
COTE Top Ten awards
The profession’s preeminent awards for projects that holistically integrate and exemplify design excellence and building performance, the COTE Top Ten awards are a highlight of every year. Defining a new standard for “great design” that addresses the urgent needs of our time, winning projects demonstrate excellence across the COTE Top Ten measures through multiple project types, sizes, and locations. In 2020, seven firms received a COTE Top Ten award for the first time, while one firm notched three winning projects. Reflecting a strong focus on carbon, 2020 winners included four renovation projects and the largest cross-laminated timber (CLT) academic building in the United States.
The just-announced 2021 winners range from a certified net zero carbon, net zero energy single family residence to a corporate campus with net zero water. One project reused 97.79% of existing building and materials and took advantage of state and local tax credits, while another is one of the most sustainable education and research building in the southeast.
For additional details on the 2021 winners, visit the COTE webpage.
AIA Materials Pledge
The materials and products with which architects choose to design and build have an enormous impact on health, resilience, and the environment. The AIA Board of Directors adopted the AIA Materials Pledge as an aspirational definition of holistically sustainable materials that support Human Health, Climate Health, Ecosystem Health, and Social Health + Equity in a Circular Economy.
Congress includes AIA priorities in House committee report
The long-awaited climate action plan released in summer 2020 by the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis was hailed by climate activists as a “tour de force” with “bold and equitable climate solutions.” Titled Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient, and Just America, the final report includes many of the recommendations for which AIA advocated in congressional testimony, meetings with policymakers, and letters to committee members. Notable examples of AIA’s incorporated recommendations include provisions that: urge Congress to require that all new federal buildings, or those undergoing major renovation, achieve net-zero emissions by 2030, utilizing the IECC Zero Code Appendix as one method; call on Congress to promote building reuse and create a tax credit for sequestering carbon in buildings and materials; suggest tax incentives to promote energy efficiency in both new and existing buildings; address energy efficient affordable housing, funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program, building electrification, and workforce development.
Research investments
AIA’s research investments also worked to advance the Climate Action Agenda. The Upjohn Research Grant program dedicated $100,000 to four projects in 2020, led by both architecture firms and academia. The projects include solutions like carbon-reducing materials, a framework and how-to guide for resettlement from the effect of sea-level rise and climate change, adaptive building envelope design, and updates to a free embodied carbon calculator.
AIA also joined with ACSA to produce its first Intersections Research Conference. Featuring researchers from practice and academia, the conference focused on helping practitioners build toward a lower-carbon future.
New sustainability resources to support AIA members
Secrets to Success courses: In partnership with Sustainability Performance Institute, we’ve added three courses to AIAU focused on the “secrets to success,” illustrating how smaller, medium-sized, and larger firms are meeting the 2030 target.
Creating a Sustainability Action Plan that Works: Just published, this resource provides everything architects need to consider when authoring a Sustainability Action Plan for your firm. The guide breaks down basics of change management and outlines the core pieces building a roadmap to success. Worksheets and conversations starters help note where you are and where you can go.
Architect’s Primer to Renewable Energy: This guide provides a starting point for architects to meet their clients’ goals and contribute to a more sustainable distributed electric grid by planning and designing for renewable energy sources.
Additional resources, including:
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