Reporting & Advancing:
How Small Firms Leverage the AIA 2030 Commitment
By Kira Gould, Hon. AIA
The AIA 2030 Commitment has been growing steadily since its launch more than a decade ago, as a tool for architects, firms, and the profession to measure and improve its climate action effectiveness. Today, 1,100 signatory firms represent 54,000 architects, more than half of the AIA’s 94,000 members. The AIA is comprised of 69,000 firms—the majority being small firms and sole practitioners—who are underrepresented among signatories.
Unfortunately, a perception persists that the program is better suited to large firms (especially those large enough to have dedicated sustainability teams to handle reporting). Let’s bust that myth right now. The potential benefits to small firms of signing and reporting are vast. Engaging with the 2030 Commitment is a way that firms -- of all sizes -- can help further innovation in building performance and climate-responsive design at all scales.
Jane Frederick, FAIA, spoke about this during her AIA presidency (2020); Frederick runs Frederick + Frederick Architects, in Beaufort, South Carolina, and she says: “Participating in the 2030 Commitment has brought a new focus on sustainability that we didn't have before we started reporting. Here’s one example: We begin each project thinking about how we can meet the goals with a combination of passive strategies and on-site electrical generation. Most of our clients have not considered photovoltaics and a battery backup system but once we present it to them with the payback business case, they get on board quickly, especially when they were previously considering a back-up generator.”
Small firm practitioner Nathan Kipnis, FAIA, also sees value; he runs Kipnis Architecture + Planning (in Evanston, Illinois, and Boulder, Colorado). Kipnis is part of the board committee (Committee on Climate Action and Design Excellence). “Many small firms feel a real divide between them and larger firms,” Kipnis says. “The 2030 Commitment helps bridge that gap. Implementing the 2030 Commitment is an opportunity for small firms to move past this divide and produce work that is on par with larger firms. The goal of the 2030 Commitment is to make progress towards the current reduction target. Even small firms can make these improvements incrementally, which is easier to do than you would think.”
Kipnis notes that, over time, “this moves the firm's work in a positive direction towards the reduction target, increasing the performance of projects and making the firm more marketable in today’s world. We make time for the 2030 Commitment by having it at the forefront of what we are doing. People often ask how I got a sustainable component so well integrated into our design. That is because it was very likely the key overall concept for our project, not an afterthought.”
There is a belief that uploading data can be very time consuming. But many firms suggest that the investment pays off quickly. Having team members track, understand, and input data for projects is a direct education benefit. This article (also in the longer list of resources below) directly addresses this question in citing the big impact small firms can make with their participation in the 2030 Commitment, and relaying that the data reporting can relate to the scale of their work, and offers a tool and baseline for design impact; and that info needed for reporting is likely info they already have for code compliance. Also, the process of creating a Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) will be useful to the firm to articulate a strategy that will be fitting to their practice. The article’s author, Eva Reed-Warden, AIA, quotes Kathleen English, AIA, of English + Associates Architects:
Kathleen says that uploading the data for the commitment is not onerous .... More importantly, the data does not have to be perfect. The main goal is just to get data uploaded because without the data, you don’t know how you are really doing. Think of it like a financial report: If you don’t track your financial data, you can’t judge the health of your business. Without tracking the data on your sustainability efforts, you can’t see how you are doing. “Upload the ugly as well as the good,” Kathleen noted, “Because you cannot reach a goal without having a goal, and seeing the numbers makes people push harder.”
David Arkin, AIA, of Arkin Tilt, concurs: "At our firm we keep a spreadsheet with the basic DDx [Design Data Exchange] reporting items, and have each project manager keep it up to date. One person is then responsible for collecting all the data, reviewing it with a Principal, and uploading. The whole process is surprisingly easy and doesn’t take much time. I'd estimate a few hours per project, on average."
Here are some resources for more about how small firms can engage with the 2030 Commitment and also with the Framework for Design Excellence (and the related Toolkit)
What are your pain points? Let us know at cote@aia.org. Perhaps we can leverage the COTE Network in ways that can support you.