ASHRAE, along with 24 of the world's leading building industry organizations issued a statement to government representatives attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 27) pledging to assume a leadership role in decarbonization efforts in the built environment. The organizations are signatories of the Building Industry Steps Up to Address Climate Change – a statement to government representatives that are parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changes (UNFCCC), expressing a collective commitment to meeting 1.5°C Paris Agreement targets.

In a video presentation, 2022-23 ASHRAE President Farooq Mehboob, Fellow Life Member ASHRAE, presented a roadmap for addressing climate change, reading directly from the statement.

"The buildings that we live and work in are responsible for approximately 40% of total global direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions," Mehboob said. "The built environment is therefore one of the leading drivers of climate change. Simultaneously, making changes to how and what we build is one of our most effective tools for mitigating and adapting to climate change and places a great responsibility on the built environment industry. This is a responsibility we earnestly accept."

Signatories demonstrated their support of the statement.

"Collaboration across the buildings industry is critical to enable and accelerate progress on climate goals. This shared statement communicates to engineers around the globe that their work matters; and our collective commitment to leadership in decarbonizing the built environment engages them in the global effort to address the devasting impacts of climate change. USGBC is pleased to work with ASHRAE and other partner organizations to support the many engineers and building professionals on the front lines, making the case to their clients to push their designs to go further to decarbonize." - Peter Templeton, president and CEO, U.S. Green Building Council

Government leaders from around the world are convening for climate negotiations at COP27, Nov. 6-18 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. ASHRAE leadership will participate in a COP 27 Official Side Event on Nov.16 titled "Planning, Design and Development in the Global South: The 'How To' for People + Planet." The event organizers are Architecture 2030, ASHRAE and the International Network of Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES).

To view President Mehboob's video presentation of the statement, to read the statement in its entirety and to see a complete list of signatories, visit ashrae.org.