Danny Chan
Project Drawdown has announced two launches and the plan to host its second international conference as a virtual event early next year. It will also be a focus locally, with a panel session in AIRAH’s Outlook 2020 International HVAC&R Conference.
Founded in 2014, Project Drawdown is a non-profit organisation that seeks to help the world reach “drawdown”– the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline.
Testing ground for scaling climate solutions
On October 13, Project Drawdown launched Drawdown Labs – a consortium of private sector partners working to go beyond ‘net zero’ to scale climate solutions in the world, within and outside their own operations.
“Leveraging the organisation’s research and analysis from Project Drawdown and cross-industry capabilities of participating businesses, Drawdown Labs will experiment with collaborative ways to address climate change at unprecedented scale and offer the world a more expansive vision for corporate climate leadership,” says the organisation.
Alongside a cross-sectoral group of companies, climate-focused businesses, funders and the global design firm IDEO, Drawdown Labs serves as a testing ground for how the private sector can help to achieve drawdown quickly, safely and equitably.
Georgia’s 2040 deadline
Inspired by Project Drawdown, Drawdown Georgia was established on October 17 with an aim to build a movement for progress towards achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the US state of Georgia.
According to Drawdown Georgia, a team of the state’s best researchers and scientists spent over 18 months diving into regional data to determine what is possible to achieve within the Drawdown framework, leveraging the state’s abundant economic, social and natural resources.
The stateside organisation has set a deadline of 2030 to cut Georgia’s carbon impact significantly and ensure that the state will be well on the road to net zero and a low carbon economy by 2040.
Drawdown Georgia has identified five high-impact areas and 20 specific solutions – from building on solar and EV capacity, to growing the state’s ability to sequester carbon in its forests and coastal wetlands, to transitioning to regenerative agriculture and plant friendly diets and building cleaner and greener.
The official launch was marked by Drawdown Georgia Week from October 17–23. Offering an opportunity for people to get engaged and join the movement, the event roster included an opening night celebration, a master research presentation, a civic dinner series and crowd-solving for climate.
Second international conference
In partnership with the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), Project Drawdown will present the Second International Drawdown Conference on January 5–9, 2021.
The virtual conference, titled “Research to Action: Science and Solutions for a Planet Under Pressure”, will be combined with the Annual NCSE Conference. It will feature the latest scientific research and real-world actions to achieve drawdown.
The first half (January 5–7) of the conference will be facilitated by NCSE and will focus on the physical realities of climate change and impacts on social institutions. The latter half (January 7–9) of the conference will be facilitated by Project Drawdown and will share the latest knowledge on implementation and communication of climate solutions.
Click here to learn more about the conference.
Project Drawdown panel at Outlook 2020
AIRAH’s Outlook 2020 International HVAC&R Conference and Awards Gala on November 10 will feature a panel session about Project Drawdown.
Chaired by Atelier Ten’s Paul Stoller, M.AIRAH, the session will provide an overview of Project Drawdown and the suggested solutions directly relevant to the buildings services industry.
These include refrigerant management, alternate refrigerants, and renewable energy. Other topics for discussion will include high-performance envelopes, lighting, solar hot water, and building automation systems.
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