Danish Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency

Klimakrisen og tab af biodiversitet er de to mest seriøse kriser i vores tid. Bygninger og konstruktioner spiller en stor rolle her og udgør næsten 40% af den energirelaterede CO2-udledning. Samtidig har bygninger en væsentlig betydning for vores naturlige omgivelser.

Hvis hele bygningsindustrien skal imødekomme samfundets behov uden at tage på jordens miljømæssige ressourcer, kræver det et paradigmeskift i vores adfærd og arbejdsgange. Sammen med vores kunder skal vi udvikle og designe bygninger, byer og infrastrukturer som et underliggende led i en større, konstant regenerering og selvkørende bæredygtigt system.

Vi har både forskning og teknologi, som gør det muligt for os at begynde transformationen, men vi mangler blot at samarbejde. Ved at anerkende dette, forpligter vi os til at styrke vores arbejdstilgange, som kan være med til at skabe arkitektur og urbanisering, som har et mere positivt miljøaftryk på verden omkring os.

We will seek to:

• Raise awareness of the climate and biodiversity emergencies and the urgent need for action amongst our clients and supply chains.
• Advocate for faster change in our industry towards regenerative design practices and a higher Governmental funding priority to support this.
• Establish climate and biodiversity mitigation principles as the key measure of our industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes and listings.
• Share knowledge and research to that end on an open source basis.
• Evaluate all new projects against the aspiration to contribute positively to mitigating climate breakdown, and encourage our clients to adopt this approach.
• Upgrade existing buildings for extended use as a more carbon efficient alternative to demolition and new build whenever there is a viable choice.
• Include life cycle costing, whole life carbon modelling and post occupancy evaluation as part of our basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use.
• Adopt more regenerative design principles in our studios, with the aim of designing architecture and urbanism that goes beyond the standard of net zero carbon in use.
• Collaborate with engineers, contractors and clients to further reduce construction waste.
• Accelerate the shift to low embodied carbon materials in all our work.
• Minimise wasteful use of resources in architecture and urban planning, both in quantum and in detail.