Why Climate Action Is a Business Imperative

Banfield Pet Hospital. Image © Gensler/ Ryan Gobuty.

The architecture and design community has a lot of virtues—we are a creative, thoughtful and entrepreneurial bunch. Most us are also genuinely focused on using our work to make a positive impact for our clients, our communities and our broader world. Just like any other industry, however, architects and designers can be guilty of short-term thinking, and this is especially true when it comes to climate action. Working through organizations like the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the World Green Building Council (World GBC), the industry has set some laudable goals in terms of lowering the environmental impact of our work, but we have failed to set the standards needed to reach them. These goals include achieving carbon neutrality in the design for all new building and interiors projects by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality in the design for all new and existing buildings before 2050.

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Gensler at COP21: Art and Climate Change

Ian Mulcahey takes a look inside Ice Watch Paris at COP21. Image © Gensler

COP21 is an international diplomatic conference hosted by the United Nations, and it is dedicated to mitigating climate change. 2015 is a particularly significant year for the conference, and the first year that COP has included Buildings Day, which focused on the built environment and climate change.

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