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2024 Climate Week Event
Decarbonizing Buildings: Taking a Whole Life Cycle Approach

Thursday, September 26, 2024 | 8:30–11:00 am ET

Join us at Climate Week NYC for a special session – Decarbonizing Buildings: Taking a Whole Life Cycle Approach. This session is hosted by the International Code Council (ICC), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and American Institute of Architects-New York Committee on the Environment.

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Decarbonizing Buildings: Taking a Whole Life Cycle Approach
Thursday, September 26, 2024
8:30–11:00 am ET
Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY

The design, construction, and operation of buildings account for roughly 40 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Historically, significant attention has been focused on reducing the energy use associated with building operations, but as buildings approach increasing levels of energy efficiency and the energy grid decarbonizes, design and material choices become increasingly impactful. The embodied carbon associated with the extraction, manufacturing, transportation, construction, in-use, and end-of-life phases of buildings accounts for around 11 percent of global carbon emissions (more than a quarter of total buildings’ related emissions around the world). Reducing these emissions to meet community and industry climate goals, on a path to zero emissions, will require a comprehensive approach that addresses all stages of the building lifecycle.

Designers, policymakers, corporations and investors are increasingly focused on opportunities to achieve higher performing buildings with less impact across their life-cycle. This panel event will explore current and developing initiatives to reduce building related GHG emissions at multiple scales (from products and materials to whole buildings) and the essential role of a holistic approach based on standards and tools that address the entire building life-cycle. A special focus will be on the complex alignment of multiple actors across the building and construction industry to achieve decarbonization and resilient outcomes of our existing and future building stock.

Schedule

Breakfast (8:30–9:00 ET)

Welcome (9:00–9:10 ET)

  • Ryan Colker, Vice President, Innovation, International Code Council
  • Mallory Taub, Co-Chair, AIA-NY COTE/Gensler

New York City Construction Decarbonization Announcement (9:10–9:15 ET)

  • Sylvie Binder, Greenhouse Gas Policy Advisor, Office of the Mayor, New York City

Panel Discussion: Forging the Path to a Decarbonized Built Environment (9:15–10:15 ET)

  • Roland Hunziker, Co-Chair, Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction/World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
  • Heather Clark, Senior Director of Building Sector, White House Climate Policy Office
  • Emma Gonzalez-Laders, Assistant Director for Energy Code Services, New York State Department of State
  • Sylvie Binder, Greenhouse Gas Emission Policy Advisor, Office of the Mayor, New York City
  • Yasemin Kologlu, Co-Chair, AIA-NY COTE/SOM
  • Tina Paillet, President, RICS
  • Moderator: Ryan Colker, Vice President, Innovation, International Code Council

Panel Discussion: Developing the WLCA Ecosystem to Get Us There (10:15–10:55 ET)

  • Ryan Colker, Vice President, Innovation, International Code Council
  • Brad Nies, Sustainable Design Program Expert, U.S. General Services Administration
  • Anil Sawhney, Head of Sustainability, RICS
  • Moderator: Dan Piselli, AIA-NY COTE/FXCollaborative

Closing (10:55–11:00 ET)

  • Alexandra Faciu, RICS Americas World Region Board Member