Santa Fe, N.M. — Recognizing that the building sector is responsible for almost half of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually, The American Institute of Architects (AIA / www.aia.org), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC / www.usgbc.org), American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE / www.ashrae.org), Architecture 2030 and about 20 other leaders attended a special meeting at Greenbuild 2006 in Denver to confront the global-warming crisis.

The group reached a consensus on three critical issues facing the building sector as it works to bring energy consumption and GHG emissions in this sector under control: the need for a common goal; the definition of this goal; and a baseline to measure progress against, and have adopted "The 2030 Challenge" targets. These targets call for all new buildings and major renovations to reduce their fossil-fuel GHG-emitting energy consumption by 50 percent immediately; increasing this reduction to 60 percent in 2010; 70 percent in 2015; 80 percent in 2020; 90 percent in 2025; and finally, that all new buildings would be carbon neutral by the year 2030. The 2030 Challenge targets had previously been adopted by the AIA, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (for all buildings in all cities; Resolution #50) and individual cities and counties; endorsed by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and incorporated into their “Statement of Action”; integrated into the EPA’s Target Finder; and promoted by the National Wildlife Federation and others. The collaborative adoption creates a powerful consensus allowing for the sharing of information and support. For more information, visit www.architecture2030.org.