Seattle/Bolzano—In December 2019 Ursula von der Leyen, newly-appointed President of the European Commission, said, “I want Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent in the world by 2050… to make this happen, we must take bold steps together…”
By the urging of—and overwhelming support from—our volunteer Network and European community, the International Living Future Institute has risen to Ursula von der Leyen’s challenge in Europe and is poised to raise the bar on sustainable development across the continent.
Two years ago, with the support of our Founding Circle Sponsors, we brought on our long-time advocate and advanced practitioner Carlo Battisti as European Executive Director to lead the way in creating a living future in Europe through the Living Future Europe Initiative. Through his leadership, we developed our first-ever comprehensive strategic vision specific to Europe, which aimed to introduce and educate the European market to the Living Building Challenge, as well as highlight companies leading the healthy materials revolution. This set the stage for the launch of our Declare Europe Label in January 2019.
The strategic vision also created much-needed clarity for our team and volunteer network, who went on to host more than 50 events in 2019. These events spanned 33 cities in 19 different European countries, nearly twice the number of events held in 2018. These events reached roughly 3,000 leading practitioners looking to build Living Buildings in Europe.
“We are excited about Living Future Europe and what it means to be firmly established in the region, as Europe is core to ILFI’s global strategy,” said Anthony Guerrero, ILFI Board Chair. He continued, “The European Union’s advanced policies and technologies align well with our ambitious programs and can help accelerate a full decarbonization process for the built environment.”
In order to ensure a stronger presence in Europe and an even better connection with the building industry, ILFI has formally established Living Future Europe (LFE), a new legal entity and nonprofit association. LFE’s mission coincides closely to that of ILFI’s: to make the world work for 100 percent of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation without ecological offense or disadvantage to anyone, and catalyzing the transformation toward communities that are socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative.
Carlo Battisti, now the LFE President, said, “The climate crisis is real. We need to do much more. The good news is that ILFI created the right tools for what we believe is one way to slow down the climate disaster. And this will help us take concrete steps through LFE to achieve the ambitious 2050 European Green Deal goals. Each of us can work toward a living future in Europe.”
LFE will play an active role in championing the International Living Future Institute programs and will focus on educating and assisting a broader audience of interested practitioners on how to build Living Building Challenge projects. LFE will also work to spur demand for healthy, transparent materials and Declare and Living Products. For more information or to contact Carlo Battisti about LFE, email Carlo at carlo.battisti@living-future.org.
