Across the country, AIA COTE state and local chapters are driving meaningful climate action through advocacy, public education, and community-centered engagement—advancing local resilience and sustainability. This spotlight series showcases specific initiatives designed to inspire and empower COTE groups nationwide to take action and lead climate solutions in their own communities.
—
For more than a decade, the City of New Orleans has sought to strengthen its building energy policies, an effort long championed by members of the AIA New Orleans Committee on the Environment (COTE). In 2025, those efforts came to fruition with the passage of the city’s first-ever energy benchmarking ordinance. At the same time, COTE members advanced implementation of the state’s newly adopted energy code through targeted training, outreach, and resource development.
Together, these advocacy efforts, spanning both energy code implementation and benchmarking policy adoption, mark a significant step toward a more energy-efficient and climate-resilient built environment, demonstrating the power of architects’ voices in shaping local action.
Energy Benchmarking: Turning Data Into Climate Action
Energy benchmarking is a critical tool to track and manage energy use in large buildings, which account for nearly 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the City of New Orleans. Benchmarking requires large commercial and multifamily properties to measure and report their annual energy use, creating a transparent public database that helps owners identify inefficiencies, reduce costs, and cut emissions. As the saying goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure.
This was especially important to AIA New Orleans COTE, as it directly supports their mission to equip the community with data-driven resources that help property owners and facility managers make informed decisions to improve building performance and energy efficiency.
AIA New Orleans COTE members played a key role in shaping the ordinance, participating in stakeholder workshops and a technical working group to refine the legislation. They partnered closely with the AIA New Orleans Advocacy Committee to build support among city officials and council members.
Establishing and maintaining relationships with a broad network of stakeholders across city government was essential to building the trust and collaboration that ultimately led to the adoption of the energy benchmarking ordinance in July 2025.
"Our participation ensures that architects—as the professionals most directly responsible for shaping buildings and communities—have a voice in crafting policies that are both ambitious and practical. By engaging at the technical level, we help ensure that energy goals are achievable, that compliance pathways support innovation, and that sustainability remains accessible to all project types and communities."
Blake Bergeron, 2025 AIA New Orleans President
The ordinance takes effect on January 1, 2026, for buildings over 50,000 square feet, and January 1, 2027, for buildings over 20,000 square feet. To support successful implementation, AIA New Orleans COTE is planning educational events and continuing to engage with city officials to help expand the program to smaller properties in the coming years.
Energy Code Implementation: Turning Policy Into Practice
At the same time, the AIA COTE Energy Working Group was working to support implementation of the recently adopted statewide energy code, which established stronger energy efficiency standards. Although the code was adopted in 2022, the group realized that implementation was lagging: many architects needed clarity on how to design to the new requirements and local code officials required additional training to enforce them effectively.
To support successful implementation, the working group launched a series of training sessions and resources, including a simplified compliance template, to assist both practitioners and code officials. They also organized roundtables with both city officials and design professionals to explore opportunities for improved implementation. In partnership with the AIA Advocacy Committee, the group hosted a training session for city staff on enforcement strategies and participated in a mayoral forum to elevate the conversation around energy code compliance and accountability.
These efforts helped build shared understanding among policymakers, designers, and regulators, positioning AIA New Orleans COTE as a trusted partner in advancing energy performance at the city level.
"With the ever-growing need for governments to act proactively for a sustainable future, the agencies and the public servants tasked with this responsibility need trusted partners and resources who understand the built environment and the forces that create it. Architects are uniquely positioned to be that partner, and over many years AIA New Orleans has made a pointed effort to foster working relationships with our public agencies—encouraging them to tap into our resources, our knowledge base and our passion—as they develop actionable policy thereby positioning our members to step into that role when called upon."
Chris Johnson, AIA New Orleans Advocacy Committee Chair and Vice President
Looking ahead, the working group plans to continue engaging with the new mayoral administration, city council, and building department officials to strengthen code enforcement and explore how best practices can be extended to neighboring jurisdictions, ensuring consistent, high-quality energy code compliance across the region.
Lessons for Other Chapters
Together, these two initiatives represent a comprehensive approach to improving building performance in New Orleans. Both successes share a common foundation: collaboration and sustained trust-building with key partners.
These advocacy efforts are central to AIA New Orleans COTE’s mission, as they represent some of the most effective tools available to improve building performance, reduce carbon emissions, and create healthier, more resilient communities.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to:
-
Sophia Winston, Energy Policy + Program Manager, Office of Resilience and Sustainability, city of New Orleans
-
Ty Siddiqui, Executive Director, AIA New Orleans
-
Blake Bergeron, 2025 AIA New Orleans President
-
Chris Johnson, AIA New Orleans Advocacy Committee Chair and Vice President
-
Samantha Johnson, Mike Johnson, Caroline Garfield, AIA New Orleans COTE co-chairs
-
Z Smith, New Orleans COTE Member