South African Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency

Architects Declare is a remarkable call-to-arms on climate change.

A group of leading South African multidisciplinary firms have recently joined their international peers to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency.

The twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are the most serious issue of our time.

Buildings and construction play a major part, accounting for nearly 40% of energy-related
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having a significant impact on our natural habitats.

For everyone working in the construction industry, meeting the needs of our society without
breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries will demand a paradigm shift in our behaviour.

Together with our clients, we will need to commission and design buildings, cities and
infrastructures as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining
system.

The research and technology exist for us to begin that transformation now, but what has been
lacking is collective will.

Recognising this, we are committing to strengthen our working practices to create architecture and urbanism that has a more positive impact on the world around us.

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
  

Where it all started:
#constructiondeclares is a global petition uniting all strands of construction and the build environment.
It is both a public declaration of our planet's environmental crises and a commitment to take positive action in response to climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse.

Press:
The Guardian: Where are the architects who will put the environment first?

Dezeen: UK architects including Foster and Chipperfield declare climate and biodiversity emergency

Dezeen: RIBA declares climate emergency saying it is architecture's "biggest challenge"

Architect's Journal: Architects Declare is a remarkable call-to-arms on climate change

The Ecologist: Architects declare climate emergency

World Architects: UK architects declare an emergency

The Riba Journal: 17 Stirlings’ declaration is just the start

Arch Daily: World-leading architects call for action on climate change

Founding signatories:
Genius Loci Spirit of Place - Ronel Wiese Fourie, Sense Architects, Mathews & Associates Architects, Minetta Luttig, Platform, ArgDesign

We hope that every South African Construction practice will join us in making this commitment

#architectsdeclare