By: Jesse Walton, AIA and Daniel Overbey, AIA
The 2030 Commitment Made Its Presence Known at AIA25
The AIA Conference on Architecture & Design 2025 took place June 4-7 in Boston, Massachusetts. This year’s conference included over 450 sessions, covering a broad and comprehensive range of topics impacting the profession today. The four days of programming included a range of peer-to-peer engagement opportunities dedicated to advancing AIA’s strategic initiatives related to climate action, sustainability, equity—including several sessions and forums focused specifically on AIA’s premiere climate action initiatives: the 2030 Commitment and the Materials Pledge. Here is a recap of a few of the program highlights:
Embodied Carbon: A Cross-disciplinary Perspective
The AIA 2030 Commitment continues to see upward trends with embodied carbon reporting in Design Date Exchange (DDx). With the emergence of the SE 2050 Challenge, the MEP 2040 Challenge, and the Climate Positive Design Challenge, collective action across to report and refine data collection for embodied carbon across the AEC industry to is approaching an inflection point. Liaisons to each of the programs—Jesse Walter (AIA 2030), Pamela Conrad (Climate Positive Design), Zachary Chabot (SE 2050), and Cory Duggin (MEP 2040)—offered summaries of each program’s latest reporting periods. An ensuing panel discussion with the audience touched on a wide range of issues that underscored the notion that a wholistic and comprehensive discussion of embodied carbon must expand beyond considerations of the building structure. Although data quality issues, unresolved knowledge gaps, and lagging building codes continue to present challenges, opportunities abound with collective harmonization around the ECHO reporting schema and unprecedented availability of design integration tools enriched with potent data visualization components.
AIA 2030 & Materials Pledge Open Forum
Members of the AIA 2030 Commitment and Materials Pledge Working Groups convened with representatives of signatory firms and prospective signatories to offer preliminary findings from the most recent reporting cycles of AIA’s two premiere climate action initiatives. Attendees then participated in multiple rounds of topic-based peer-to-peer engagement and knowledge sharing. Among other information resources shared out, both working groups offered revised guidance documents on how to develop a successful Sustainability Action Plan (SAP) and Material Action Plan (MAP).
Surviving & Thriving in the Design Data Desert
Vanessa Hostick, Kevin Settlemyre, Keith Hempel, and Daniel Stine explored their firm strategies for managing design performance data, covering digital tools and processes across a range of topics—from contracts and costs to program efficiency, energy use, and carbon impact. A common theme emerged: to track data effectively over time, teams must be intentional about what they collect and ensure that data remains centralized and easily accessible. This focus is key to enabling long-term success.
Demystifying the AIA Design Data Exchange: Collaborative Workshop for First-Time Users
In this session, technical leaders in the AIA 2030 Commitment Working Group assembled with first-time and curious prospective users of the Design Data Exchange (DDx)—AIA’s online platform designed to help firms track and report their progress toward the 2030 Commitment.
Zero* is 100% Possible by 2030
Vincent Martinez, Hon. AIA, CEO of Architecture 2030 offered an evidence-based perspective into the progress made across the building sector toward the 2030 Challenge. Vanessa Hostick, Brad Jacobson, and Kjell Anderson then offered case studies demonstrating how actionable climate strategies can be realized firmwide when a culture of tracking and measuring carbon reductions is embraced. Insights were offered regarding the decarbonization of both new construction as well as existing building projects – including a case study of the renovation and decarbonization of the AIA national headquarters.
The 2030 Commitment Working Group is looking forward to releasing additional insights and resources later this year. As always, if our team can help in any way, please reach out to us at 2030commitment@aia.org