Launched today, Architecture 2030 is part of an ongoing effort, initiated by architect Edward Mazria, to provide information and innovative solutions in the fields of architecture and planning, in an effort to address and reverse the destructive trend toward global climate change...


The website clearly illustrates, using the latest research, that the Building sector is currently responsible for about half of all U.S. and global emissions annually and that this sector’s emissions are increasing at an alarming rate. Architecture2030.org outlines the steps necessary to address this situation. As part of this effort, the website includes a variety of resources to help professionals, government officials, and those in the building sector, plan and design for a carbon-neutral future.

The website comes at a critical time as the United States and China, at last month’s UN climate change conference in Montreal, refused to agree to mandatory steps to curtail their greenhouse gas emissions. Also at that time, NASA’s Dr. James Hansen told 11,000 Earth systems scientists at an American Geophysical Union Conference, that mankind has at most 10 years to curb emissions or else global warming would take the Earth into climate patterns it has not experienced for more than 500,000 years. While the planet is plunging into the most serious crisis of modern times, the politics of action and the science of climate change could not be further apart.

However, a bright side to this worrisome dilemma is emerging. Many cities, states, organizations and design professionals are accepting the challenge to tackle climate change. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), representing 74,000 prefessionals, recently announced a bold initiative to reverse the environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions of the U.S. building sector. The AIA, adopting many of the actions called for by architecture 2030 (see “open letter” on the wesite), set a goal of reducing the fossil fuel consumption of buildings by 50 percent in four years, with additional 10-percent reductions every five years thereafter. The implications of this initiative are considerable and when implemented will transform the built environment in a way we have not seen since the time of the industrial revolution.

The website will report on the activities and progress in the building sector around the globe and critical information will be updated regularly.