Climate change is the environmental challenge of our time, and one of the most pressing issues facing our cities and communities today. Because every project we work on is either part of the problem or part of the solution, we have made a commitment to measure the environmental impact of our work, and publish the results annually to drive discussions with peers and partners, clients, and communities about the best ways to make progress in the future. This is the focus of our Impact by Design 2017 report, published earlier this week.
Our commitment to transparency and leading conversations around the connection between climate change and the built environment began with our first Impact Through Design report in 2016, which we published after sending a team to Paris to observe the U.N. negotiations resulting in the Paris Agreement. Gensler was one of the 1,300 businesses, governments and civil society organizations to sign the Paris Pledge for Action last year, expressing our commitment to limiting climate change to less than 2 degrees Celsius of warming. This built on our continued participation in the Architecture 2030 Commitment, an initiative focused on collective action by the architecture and design industry to reduce the carbon impact of the built environment.
In 2017, we extend these commitments as a proud sponsor of Climate Week NYC, which coincides with the opening session of this year’s U.N. General Assembly. Climate change affects every business, government, and community around the world. We take our commitment to sustainability very seriously, and we hope our Impact by Design publications can inform discussion around how the architecture and design community can make a difference, and where our efforts are making the greatest impact today.