COP29: The Drive Toward a Resilient, Zero-Carbon Built Environment

COP29: the drive toward a resilient, zero-carbon built environment

Architecture 2030 delegates — in person and virtual — are engaged with COP29 in Baku, advancing building decarbonization strategies. Our themes this year:

Investing in the Future: Resilient and Carbon-Sequestering Cities
Existing Buildings
Sufficiency in the Built Environment
Traditional Knowledge as Climate Action

COP29: Exterior Built Environment: the Immense Opportunity

November 20, 2024

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, as of 2015, “75 percent of global urban infrastructure that will exist in 2050 has yet to be built.” This presents either a massive opportunity to reduce emissions and sequester carbon, cool cities, and preserve and enhance biodiversity and natural systems—or a risk of exacerbating these problems.

By Eustacia Brossart

COP29: The Holistic Transformation of Climate-Adaptive Infrastructure

November 19, 2024

As our planet warms and climate hazards intensify, our aging infrastructure faces unprecedented challenges. The choices we make today will shape the world we leave for future generations; it’s time to rethink how we design and construct our communities.

By Lauren Alger

COP29: The Dual Role of Built Buildings as Cultural and Technical Climate Solutions

November 18, 2024

As the 2024 UNEP Gap Report illustrates, the world is moving farther off track from the targets of the Paris Agreement. All sectors, including buildings and construction, need to rapidly transform our approach to climate action, but how?

By Lori Ferriss

COP29: Politically Resilient

November 17, 2024

We have to start telling stories and ‘flood-the-zone’ with them. Stories of how our transition away from hydrocarbons will make everyone’s life better in both the short and long term.

By Kelly Alvarez Doran

COP29: Sufficiency and the Built Environment: Using Less, Achieving More

November 15, 2024

Consumption matters. Sufficiency - avoiding the demand for energy, materials, land, water, and other natural resources while delivering well-being for all within planetary boundaries – is a critical missing tool in our decarbonization toolkit. We cannot achieve our carbon reduction goals without building less.

By Lisa Richmond

COP29: Ancestral Wisdom Driving Low Carbon Climate Resilience

November 14, 2024

The pathway toward carbon neutrality can and must find inspiration from our Past—the pre-carbon era—by lowering our reliance on carbon-intensive building materials and processes. Traditional building practices exemplify principles of environmental and social sustainability, offering valuable lessons that are both timely and relevant.

By Rosie Paul

COP29: Climate Finance in the Built Environment

November 13, 2024

Finance can be a key enabler for many transformations in the world. The built environment offers opportunities for major transformations and is certainly ripe for investment.

By Prem Sundharam

COP29: We Have the Momentum

November 11, 2024

The drive towards a zero-carbon and resilient built environment has gained irreversible momentum since the 2015 COP21 Paris Agreement, driven by the recognition of the climate crisis as a threat to economic stability and human well-being.

By Edward Mazria