American Institute of Architects (AIA) president William Bates has issued a statement of support for the recently unveiled preliminary Green New Deal (GND) legislation.
In a press release, Bates said:
We applaud the efforts of Congress and its committees this week to find new ways to support achieving a carbon neutral future by 2030, which is critical to our global future. By investing in infrastructure, upgrading the existing building stock, and improving resilience in the built environment, we can make progress towards AIA’s 2030 Commitment goals. However, there’s a great deal of work that needs to be done. AIA encourages Congress to swiftly enact public policies today that will address the dire consequences we’re facing.
The statement comes just days after a non-binding draft resolution calling for the wholesale decarbonization of the American energy grid was unveiled by New York congressional representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Massachusetts senator Ed Markey.
Last week The Architect’s Newspaper spoke with architects from around the country to gauge what they would like to see included in an eventual plan.
According to the AIA press release, AIA members are scheduled to visit Congress on March 6 to advocate for legislative action on a range of initiatives related to climate change, resilience, and energy efficiency. As currently planned, the AIA delegation is scheduled to meet with several House and Senate committees, including the Energy & Commerce, Transportation & Infrastructure, Energy & Natural Resource, Environment and Public Works committees as well as the recently reinstated Select Committee on the Climate Crisis in an effort to “to achieve measurable outcomes.”
AIA’s support for the GND follows the adoption of the organization’s 2030 Commitment, a program that seeks to “transform the practice of architecture in a way that is holistic, firm-wide, project based, and data-driven” by prioritizing energy performance in order to make America’s building stock carbon neutral by 2030, a goal that is roughly shared with the preliminary GND legislation.
A draft of the GND legislation calls for “upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort, and safety,” among many other goals.
