Last week, a report was released from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. Starkly depicting a grim prognosis of the difference in a half degree Celsius, the report quantified the remaining time we have for transformation–as little as 12 years.

There are three points that I would like to share about this report that give me hope:

  1. The challenge ahead of us is enormous but clear: The IPCC report estimates that the world would need to emit no more than 1,080 billion tons of carbon for a 1-in-3 chance of successfully limiting global warming; if we limit our emissions to only 570 billion tons of carbon, the chance goes up to 2-in-3. In our data-driven world, this is a metric that we can check, follow and meet.
  2. This is the first climate report of this magnitude that was requested by governments. Based on hundreds of nominations from more than 100 world governments, the report is authored by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists that take into account scientific expertise, geographic representation, gender balance and prior IPCC experience. Its impact has reached farther than any other IPCC report, and the fact that government leaders wanted it will greatly increase its impact in the offices where those very same leaders are now discussing it: “We have presented governments with pretty hard choices. We have pointed out the enormous benefits of keeping to 1.5C, and also the unprecedented shift in energy systems and transport that would be needed to achieve that,” said Jim Skea, a co-chair of the IPCC working group. “We show it can be done within laws of physics and chemistry. Then the final tick box is political will. We cannot answer that. Only our audience can–and that is the governments that receive it.”
  3. The report dictates what must be the focus of our work ahead: “Pathways limiting global warming to 1.5C would require rapid and far-reaching transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure… including buildings and transportation.” Just this past month, the International Living Future Institute reached an impressive milestone, one that we have been gunning toward for ten years: 100 certified Living Building Challenge projects. These projects span the world and showcase examples of the change required, and they are not alone.

Joseph Campbell once said about his belief that there are heroes in each of us, “I don’t have to have faith, I have experience.”  The hard work of cities, communities and projects accepting the challenge of transformation give us at the Institute hope–not based in faith, but based in experience–that the work required is possible and, if we can come out the other end, will create the future we all truly want to live in.

Written By

Amanda Sturgeon, FAIA

Amanda is the CEO of ILFI. She joined the Institute following a career as a licensed architect with fifteen years experience designing and managing some of the most sustainable buildings in the Pacific Northwest.