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ASLA 2023 Professional Urban Design Honor Award. Town Branch Commons: An Urban Transformation in Lexington, Kentucky. SCAPE, Gresham Smith / SCAPE and Ty Cole

ASLA and the ASLA Fund have released Collaborating with Industry Partners on Climate Action and Biodiversity: A Guide to Conversations Among Landscape Architects, Vendors, and Product Manufacturers.
 
The ASLA Climate Action Committee and Corporate Member Committee curated more than 70 questions landscape architects can ask vendors and product manufacturers about:

• Product:
  
  • Carbon data
  • Low-carbon material content
  • Recycled material content
  • Hazardous material content
  • Biodiversity protections
• Use of products in landscapes
• Location of product manufacturing
• Manufacturing facilities
• Company operations
• Equity programs
• Advocacy efforts

There are also additional questions for plant and tree nurseries.

The guide was jointly authored by landscape architects, vendors, and product manufacturers. It incorporates goals outlined in the ASLA Climate Action Plan and Field Guide, the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES), and by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI).

“With this guide in hand, landscape architects can ask industry partners the right questions and move the conversation forward. Getting on the same page will lead to deeper collaboration on how to reduce our collective impacts and improve benefits,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen.

“The guide will enable us to expand the dialogue on embodied carbon in materials, the sustainable use of products in landscapes, and supporting equity goals in communities,” said April Phillips, FASLA, Chair, ASLA Climate Action Committee.

The guide builds on the ASLA Climate Action Plan and the Climate Action Field Guide for ASLA Members, which chart a pathway for landscape architects to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions in their projects and operations and increase carbon sequestration by 2040.

In 2022, the Climate Action Plan was developed by a high-profile Task Force of five landscape architects chaired by Pamela Conrad, ASLA, founder of Climate Positive Design, and a 17-member Advisory Group. It outlines a bold vision for 2040 and 71 actions to be taken by 2025.

Our Vision for 2040:

All landscape architecture projects will simultaneously:

• Achieve zero embodied and operational emissions and increase carbon sequestration
• Provide significant economic benefits in the form of measurable ecosystem services, health co-benefits, sequestration, and green jobs
• Address climate injustices, empower communities, and increase equitable distribution of climate investments
• Restore ecosystems and increase and protect biodiversity

ASLA also has clear goals for global biodiversity. ASLA has committed to advancing the global movement to protect and restore at least 30 percent of terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems by 2030 (30 x 2030).