Scaling Global Climate Solutions through Culture and Heritage

Climate Week NYC: Learn how the UNFCCC Plan to Accelerate Solutions is advancing heritage-informed decarbonization.
About this Event

Heritage-informed decarbonization applies the wisdom, places, and practices of the past to minimize greenhouse gas emissions in the present and future. It safeguards and generates cultural value—the shared practices and identities that connect people to each other. Heritage-informed decarbonization solutions include the use of traditional, repairable, low-carbon materials; materials salvage and reuse; heating, cooling, and ventilation strategies; climate-responsive design features; occupant behaviors; urban planning practices; cultural practices and relationships; and the recovery, restoration, and transmission of knowledge. Through its Action Agenda, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has recognized the Plan to Accelerate Heritage-Informed Building Decarbonization as a framework to scale these proven solutions through policy.

This gathering at Climate Week NYC brings together community leaders, policymakers, heritage and built environment practitioners to learn more about the role of culture and cultural heritage in global climate action. Convened by the Climate Heritage Network, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Gensler Family AAP NYC Center, ICOMOS, ICLEI, World Monuments Fund, and Architecture 2030, panelists will focus on what steps are needed to strengthen policymakers’ capacity to integrate heritage solutions into climate change mitigation policies in the building and construction sector by 2030. Participants will learn about synergies with policy efforts prioritizing whole-life carbon reductions, energy efficiency, and materials circularity, and the coalition's immediate goals for COP 31 and beyond.