How the Built Environment Can Help the Climate Crisis

The recent report delivered to the United Nations by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a dire picture of what will happen to the world if global temperatures rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), a threshold that scientists now believe could happen by 2040. Thousands of species will go extinct. Wildfires and food shortages will increase. Over 90% of the world’s coral reefs will disappear.

According to the report, the world may be able to avoid this level of catastrophe by reducing greenhouse pollution by 45% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. That’s an enormous undertaking. And while there are many ways to go about enacting this reduction, those of us in the design industry have an opportunity to make a positive an