Session

With a changing climate that will bring financial losses, business interruptions, migration, and other threats to our society, the need for both climate mitigation and adaptation in the built environment is more urgent that ever.

Designers, architects, engineers, developers, and others in the real estate sector face many challenges as they plan the next retrofit or new development: What to tackle first – carbon reduction, energy efficiency, hazard mitigation, health and safety? Can we address everything at the same time? Does every building follow the same formula? How do we figure out what brings the most value to a building, its occupants, and the surrounding community?

This discussion will highlight the tensions and potential synergies between sustainability and resilience in the built environment. It will also address managing risks related to climate change and analyzing the cost of inaction, as well as the value of incorporating both sustainable practices and future climate into building planning.

Highlights from the National Climate Assessment, NYS Climate Impact Assessment, NIBS Mitigation Saves report, and NIBS Resilience Roadmap 2.0 will be presented as they relate to the built environment.

The audience will walk away with tools to consider and potentially implement both climate adaptation and mitigation as they plan their next retrofit or new building development.

Learning objectives:

• Identify synergies and tensions between sustainability and resilience in the planning, designing, and building phases
• Recognize strategies for integrating sustainability and resilience into the built environment
• Acknowledge the imperative for both climate adaptation and mitigation efforts
• Identify the need to expedite investments in climate adaptation and the risk of inaction