Committee on the Environment

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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Who we are

The Committee on the Environment (COTE®) is an AIA Knowledge Community working for architects, allied professionals, and the public to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We believe that design excellence is the foundation of a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. Our work promotes design strategies that empower all AIA members to realize the best social and environmental outcomes with the clients and the communities they serve.

Enjoy our latest on COTE news (and follow us on X and LinkedIn). 

To learn about the Framework for Design Excellence (formerly the COTE Top Ten Measures), click here.

Check out COTE's history and timeline. 

Starting a local COTE or sustainability group and need some guidance? Check out the AIA COTE Network Resources here.

A big thank you to our 2024 sponsors: 
Founding sponsors: Building Green
Premier sponsors: Sherwin-Williams, Stantec
Sustaining sponsors: GAF Roofing, Milliken, Andersen Windows,
BlueScope Buildings
Green sponsors: EPIC Metals
Allied sponsors: TLC Engineering, Sierra Pacific Windows

Embodied Carbon Webinar February 1

  • 1.  Embodied Carbon Webinar February 1

    Posted 01-18-2022 12:57 PM

    A free Webinar on reducing Embodied Carbon is being provided by the Environmental Law Institute on Tuesday, February 1, Noon Eastern, 11:00 AM Central, 10:00 AM Mountain, and 9:00 AM Pacific. Open to the public, registration is required by January 28 at Thwart Climate Change Now: Reducing Embodied Carbon Brick by Brick

    The webinar material directly addresses the urgent need for progress in buildings and construction.

    Join author Bill Caplan as he discusses his new book published by ELI Press-Thwart Climate Change Now: Reducing Embodied Carbon Brick by Brick. While climate policy typically focuses on future decarbonization 10 to 20 years out, temperatures continue to rise. Greenhouse gases emitted upfront from the materials, fabrication, construction, and renovation of our physical environment-embodied emissions-accelerate the rate of global warming now. Sadly, they increase atmospheric carbon before our buildings and infrastructure are even used. Often ignored or deemed too perplexing to resolve, the need to reduce embodied emissions immediately is the subject of this book. Bill Caplan will discuss three primary threads he wrote about: the urgent reality of now, misinformation and the green and sustainable palliatives, and reducing embodied carbon in the 2020s.

    In addition, expert panelists will convene with the author to weigh in. How can we best tackle embodied carbon emissions? What design and policy issues overlook their own contribution to atmospheric carbon? What are the best strategies to slow the pace of climate change within the coming decade? Join the Environmental Law Institute and experts in the field to discuss the science of climate change, sustainable designs, green policies, and so much more.

    Panelists:
    Kenneth Berlin, President and CEO, The Climate Reality Project
    Meta Brunzema, R.A. LEED A.P., Architecture & Urban Design, Collective for Community, Culture, and Environment LLC
    Bill Caplan, Author, Thwart Climate Change Now (presenter/panelist)
    Meghan Lewis, Senior Researcher, Carbon Leadership Forum, University of Washington



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    Bill Caplan Associate AIA
    ShortList_0 Design Group LLC
    Bronx NY
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