AIA 2030 Commitment By the Numbers
Learn more about the progress firms made in RY2021 toward the goal of carbon neutral buildings by 2030.
The Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design is a 2021 COTE Top Ten Winner, and firms Lord Aeck Sargent (Collaborating and Prime Architect) and the Miller Hull Partnership, LLP (Design Architect) are both 2030 Commitment signatories.
Buildings are responsible for nearly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions globally. And we’re running out of time to mitigate this. To dramatically reduce emissions from the built environment, the AIA 2030 Commitment program empowers firms to track and measure progress toward net zero carbon with transparency and accountability.
Temperatures are already up 1.2°C from before the Industrial Revolution, and the world is currently on track to hit a 3.0°C increase, which is well above the 1.5°C threshold that the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement established. Giving ourselves an A for effort is not going to keep climate change in check; transformative climate action is critical. In 2021, for the second year in a row, signatories of the AIA 2030 Commitment reported their predicted energy use intensity data with an 80% reduction target. The program's target will go up to 90% in 2025 and to 100% full carbon neutrality, in 2030.
Since 2009, signatories of the 2030 Commitment have reported the predicted energy performance of all projects in their portfolio each year. The data, input via the Design Data Exchange (DDx), includes a project's baseline, its target, and its progress toward the target. Beyond these core metrics to track operational energy, the program expanded in 2020 to optionally track energy by fuel source, renewable energy, post-occupancy energy use, and embodied carbon.
Doubling its signatories these past five years and now representing over 56,000 AEC professionals, the AIA 2030 Commitment continues to be a part of leading the built environment profession in addressing the climate crisis. Reflecting 20,652 projects from 417 firms, this By the Numbers report for the 2021 reporting year measures how far we've come as a profession and also shows how far we have to go.
AIA 2030 Commitment By the Numbers: Introduction
An overview of the progress that projects and firms are making towards greater energy efficiency and the profession's 2030 targets.
AIA 2030 Commitment By the Numbers: Model Energy Usage
Architects can use early energy modeling tools themselves, or they can work closely with modeling professionals. Either way, architects need to take the lead on energy modeling, driving the process and ensuring that design changes made by everyone on the team respond to the models’ findings.
AIA 2030 Commitment By the Numbers: Building Electrification
The option to report energy modeling by fuel source is helping project teams blaze a trail toward universal building electrification—a wholesale switch from fossil-fuel-powered equipment to electricity-powered equipment.
AIA 2030 Commitment By the Numbers: Renewable Energy
As the pEUI target of the 2030 Commitment has ramped up, the need to add renewable energy to projects has crystallized.
AIA 2030 Commitment By the Numbers: Embodied Carbon
It’s clear that we need to reduce the amount of carbon our buildings emit over time through energy use—their operational carbon. But improving embodied carbon—the emissions associated with building materials —is perhaps even more urgent.
AIA 2030 Commitment By the Numbers: Post-Occupancy Evaluation
Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) allows architects to access performance data and, ideally, to assess and address any problems.
Image credits
Jonathan Hillyer