US Architects Declare seeks to empower architects to radically decarbonize their projects and to advocate for immediate and sustained decarbonization across the entire building and construction sector. The organization will focus on assembling and developing strategies, tools, and resources that transform practice and are grounded in the intersection between operational carbon, embodied carbon, and broader environmental and social impacts.

Our work is guided by the following principles:

• Decarbonization is an ethical mandate

• Make decarbonization tools accessible to all

• Make radically decarbonized, market-ready solutions available to all

• Push for increased research and development

Recognizing that the climate emergency disproportionately impacts disadvantaged communities, US Architects Declare will prompt education and advocacy among architects to disrupt systemic inequalities and work towards social justice. We seek to define an ethical imperative for architectural firms, small and large, to work collectively for the public good, every day, as follows:

• Eliminate barriers to the profession

• Build healthy communities

• Build social and civic infrastructures

• Empower community members and institutions

Supporting and enhancing biodiversity is critical to the health of ecosystems and to the viability of the planet, and is, therefore, an urgent moral imperative for the design and construction of the built environment. US Architects Declare will accelerate the integration of architects into existing networks working to understand and reverse the built environment’s destructive impact on biodiversity. By advancing our sector’s understanding of biodiversity, we seek to build and normalize a culture of active, effective stewardship of the natural world within our practices through the following actions:

• Develop a clear understanding of the built environment’s impacts on biodiversity

• Highlight case studies and related resources

• Develop collaborative relationships among professional, academic, industrial, cultural and civic organizations

• Raise public awareness to influence government policy

We are building power across scales within the architectural community through a focus on fostering active engagement and solidarity.

Practice: Establish a network of firms working together on the issues of decarbonization, biodiversity, and justice, with a focus on small to mid-sized firms. Together, we will create materials and conversations necessary to enact a behavioral shift in practice.

Workers: Empower individuals to make change within their firms by building collective knowledge and resources.

Education: Support the development of syllabi and pedagogy to elevate the importance of decarbonization, biodiversity, and justice for students.

We are transforming the culture of practice by working collectively, rather than competitively, to establish priorities and strategies for change.

Programming: Host reading groups and lecture series that foster dialogue across practices and disciplines.

Collaboration: Make space for discussion and collective work between signatory firms to advance rapid change within our sector.

.

We are transforming the output of practice by using our collective power to engage with power structures outside our sector.

Advocacy: Intervene in policy at the national and local level.

Coalition Building: Support work other organizations and movements are already doing to fight for a more equitable, sustainable, and diverse future.

.