The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) proclaimed yesterday its commitment to enforcing measures of sustainability within the Canadian architecture community. The statement was released in support of a letter published by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement last week that the United States plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement initiated to curb climate change. 

The RAIC’s statement reads:

“The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) affirms the continued commitment of the Canadian architecture community to designing a more sustainable world and making the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement a reality.

‘Each of us has a responsibility in our work and with our everyday choices to ensure a sustainable future,’ says RAIC President-Elect Michael Cox, FRAIC. ‘The RAIC applauds and whole-heartedly endorses the American Institute of Architects’ commitment to continue to exercise that responsibility.’

The RAIC joins with architects around the world in supporting the American Institute of Architects’ declaration on the Paris Agreement, issued in response to the White House decision to withdraw the United States from the landmark Agreement.

The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada is the leading voice for excellence in the built environment in Canada. Representing about 5,000 members the RAIC advocates for excellence, works to demonstrate how design enhances the quality of life and promotes responsible architecture in addressing important issues of society.”

Released on World Environment Day—which was hosted yesterday by Canada for the first time—the RAIC’s statement contributes to an international chorus of voices that have vowed continued commitment to assuage climate change with or without the United States’ formal participation. The statement challenges Trump’s decision to protect America from the “very big economic disadvantage,” he perceives the Paris Agreement to wield for the US in particular, by communicating each nation’s responsibility in ensuring the future stability of all nations and peoples.

The statement, along with the AIA’s original letter, bolsters global awareness of the architecture community’s significant role in mitigating climate change. As stated in an earlier article on Archinect in response to Trump’s announcement to leave the Paris Agreement, there are a multiplicity of ways in which architectural development and urbanization have exacerbated and accelerated the effects of climate change. 

In the midst of this global crisis, architecture touches mass-ecological deterioration in both its causes and effects, from the production of building materials inducing mass-deforestation, the surplus of carbon emissions released by building construction, to the surge in shoreline resilience design and disaster relief shelters. Furthermore, cycles of global trade and production have also contributed to growing global economic inequality and ultimately, countries the least responsible for environmentally impactful measures will end up suffering the most from their consequences.

In the wake of this global response to climate change, a wholly transformative solution emerges. This confluence of economic demands and global production necessitates the interrogation of every link in the chain of the development of the built environment, a task in which architects must unfailingly participate.