Our journey to Zero Carbon
The biggest impacts of Climate Change are being felt most by the poorest people in the world – those who have the smallest carbon footprint, the least resilience to deal with the consequences, and who have done the least in the past to create the problem.
Carbon and Climate change is of course really only one aspect of sustainability, and we are also thinking about what we can do to reduce the overall impact on the environment of human activity. The changing climate, combined with the other impacts of human activity are also creating a very real and urgent crisis in the natural world with biodiversity – on which we depend – being adversely affected as never before. We need to think about pollution and toxicity, waste and use of scarce resources….the subject of our next blog.
Designscape Architects takes the issue of Climate Change seriously and we have always felt that we need to do whatever we can to help reduce the impacts of Climate change. Architects, what we do and how we do it can have a big impact on the world we live in. We have the knowledge, and the tools, and therefore the responsibility to show some leadership in this field – and to influence our Clients, the industry and the policymakers.
It is extremely encouraging to see World leaders of all stripes now being involved in a “race to the top” in the matter of carbon reduction targets and support for new green technologies. For our part, it is also very encouraging that it was the request from one of our larger corporate clients for a statement on our carbon commitments and policies that prompted us to write this document.
We have been working on and written in the past about the need to reduce embodied carbon in our buildings – See our Big C blog post from earlier in the year.
This document is partly about our own (in house) carbon footprint, and how we are trying different ways of reducing it. But it is clear that our “in house” carbon is a small fraction of the size of the carbon footprint of the buildings we design. So this document also looks at ways in which we work – our engagement with our Clients and the construction industry generally, and how we can use the skills and position we have as building designers to influence the overall carbon footprint of the work we do.
We are working hard to change the ways that things are done in our world so that we can help to build a more sustainable world for future generations.
Carbon and Climate change is of course really only one aspect of sustainability, and we are also thinking about what we can do to reduce the overall impact on the environment of human activity. The changing climate, combined with the other impacts of human activity are also creating a very real and urgent crisis in the natural world with biodiversity – on which we depend – being adversely affected as never before. We need to think about pollution and toxicity, waste and use of scarce resources….the subject of our next blog.
Designscape Architects takes the issue of Climate Change seriously and we have always felt that we need to do whatever we can to help reduce the impacts of Climate change. Architects, what we do and how we do it can have a big impact on the world we live in. We have the knowledge, and the tools, and therefore the responsibility to show some leadership in this field – and to influence our Clients, the industry and the policymakers.
It is extremely encouraging to see World leaders of all stripes now being involved in a “race to the top” in the matter of carbon reduction targets and support for new green technologies. For our part, it is also very encouraging that it was the request from one of our larger corporate clients for a statement on our carbon commitments and policies that prompted us to write this document.
We have been working on and written in the past about the need to reduce embodied carbon in our buildings – See our Big C blog post from earlier in the year.
This document is partly about our own (in house) carbon footprint, and how we are trying different ways of reducing it. But it is clear that our “in house” carbon is a small fraction of the size of the carbon footprint of the buildings we design. So this document also looks at ways in which we work – our engagement with our Clients and the construction industry generally, and how we can use the skills and position we have as building designers to influence the overall carbon footprint of the work we do.
We are working hard to change the ways that things are done in our world so that we can help to build a more sustainable world for future generations.
