Guest Feature: Illya Azaroff, FAIA, at COP28

Written by Illya Azaroff, FAIA , AIA At-Large Director, Director of Design, Resilience and Regenerative Strategies at +LAB Architect PLLC.

I have been to UN-hosted climate conferences for decades. Last year was my first COP, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Egypt.

This year, I am attending COP28. This event continues to bring the world together on an increasingly important and necessary topic: climate change.

Each year, it feels like the world is feverishly waking up to the severity of the climate crisis, almost desperate to take swift action. New advocates, allies, and experts come to the table to find a role on this global crew as we navigate through this storm to find a brighter future. As the Director At-Large for AIA, and with my expertise in resilience, adaptation, and regeneration working at LAB for 14 years, I relish the opportunity to meet with our partners, to speak to those who aren’t as familiar with the work AIA does, and to emphasize the key role architects play in building a better world.

Key points AIA is advancing at COP28

Success at COP28 looks like long-term commitment. In fact, last year's event represented a major shift in climate action. The global focus has transferred to adaptation, meaning heightened support of resilience and disaster risk reduction.  Given that shift, I want to advance three key points this year at COP28:

1. Our member architects have immense value when it comes to climate action. We are key partners! When armed with the right resources, we can truly reshape the world.
2. Adaptation and mitigation are two sides of the same coin. When architects fuse together resilience and sustainability, we create equity and healthy environments that meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
3. Health, safety, and welfare place people and the environment as our top priority while we work to address the climate crisis.

AIA climate action resources for use globally

One of my roles with AIA this year has been to chair CCADE, the Committee on Climate Action and Design Excellence. Here are resources we create intended for use globally:

• Comprised of 10 principles and accompanied by searching questions, the AIA Framework for Design Excellence seeks to inform progress toward a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment. The Framework equips all architects, anywhere in the world, with practical resources to achieve this vision. With 96,000+ members in over 100 countries, our value and global reach is undeniable.
• Resilience and sustainability go hand in hand and, together, can achieve many great outcomes from disaster risk reduction and lower energy costs. Ultimately, they lead to healthier buildings and more equitable outcomes. Our Resilience Design Toolkit, developed in tandem with HKS, Inc. , is the right resource that demonstrates our commitment to aligning with global adaptation goals one project at a time.
• The AIA 2030 Commitment is a call to architects everywhere to sign up, participate, learn the skills, and help the world lower its carbon footprint.  So far, the numbers speak for themselves.
• The Architecture & Design Materials Pledge, a younger program, asks architectural firms, no matter the size, to focus and report on sustainable, resilient, and carbon-neutral materials. Using that data, AIA collectively tracks the progress of the program.
• When a disaster does strike, the AIA Disaster Assistance Handbook is a great resource that demonstrates our commitment and ethical charge to assist communities after disasters.

The role architects play in the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Sultan al-Jaber, the COP28 president, has called for global reporting of climate action. Tracking global progress is key to understanding successes and where we need to redouble our efforts. As architects, we know that tracking is key to any successful project, and we hope to ensure that this model can be a mechanism to serve the measurable achievements of architects everywhere, but also help to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Speaking of goals, we identified 10 of the 17 UN SDGs where architects play a role. Check it out ⤵️

Today is day one of COP28. We’ve arrived! I look forward to seeing our partners and forging new relationships that have lasting effects.

Best, Illya