The organization is focusing on energy, transportation, and food to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions
ASLA Center for Landscape Architecture / Halkin Mason Photography, courtesy of ASLA
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) released its first assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions generated by its business operations. This report sets the baseline for ASLA as it strives toward its goal of achieving zero emissions by 2040.
The assessment details the amounts and sources of greenhouse gas emissions generated in 2023 by ASLA operations. This total includes electricity use, magazine printing and shipping, business travel, employee commuting, waste produced, and more. These emissions add up to 320.5 metric tonnes.
To put that in perspective, the average U.S. home produces approximately one metric tonne of emissions monthly via its electricity use in regions where coal or gas generates power.
“We are demonstrating our climate leadership by being transparent about our impacts. We want to show our members and partners where we are in our journey to zero emissions by 2040. Cutting emissions makes great economic and environmental sense. Let’s learn from each other and move faster together,” said ASLA President Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA.
2023 Operations Baseline
This 2023 assessment was developed in partnership with Honeycomb Strategies, a sustainability consulting company.
The company and ASLA team cooperated to collect extensive and complete data:
Of the total 320.5 metric tonnes, ASLA headquarters emitted 124.5 tonnes, or 38 percent, and LAM emitted 196 tonnes, or 61 percent.
The assessment for LAM covered the creation and online use of the magazine. By requesting extensive emissions data, ASLA introduced new carbon estimation and measurement practices to its partners. These kinds of requests encourage greater transparency and efficiency in the printing supply chain.
The calculations for the Center’s emissions included such factors as electricity use, employee commuting, and business travel.
The Center used 170,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity or 13.4 kWh per square foot – substantially below the 16.9 kWh average annual electricity consumption per square foot for administrative office space, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
- ASLA employees commuted to the office 3,882 times, covering 105,000 miles.
- 69 percent of trips by car
- 27 percent by public transit (train, subway, bus)
- 4 percent by foot or bike
- ASLA employees traveled 228,000 miles on business trips
- 96 percent of trips by plane
- ASLA produced an estimated 7,280 pounds of waste
- 71 percent of waste went to the landfill and 29 percent was recycled
Reduction Actions
As the 2023 data was collected, ASLA implemented new strategies to reduce emissions in 2024 and beyond. To reduce its emissions this year, ASLA implemented these strategies:
- Purchased renewable energy credits for 100 percent of the ASLA Center’s energy use.
- Promoted benefits and incentives for low-carbon commuting.
- Issued new policies to lessen the effect of business travel.
- Updated procurement policies to encourage locally sourced and 75 percent vegetarian meals for staff and member events hosted by ASLA at the Center.
“These policies help us decarbonize our operations and serve as an example for other organizations,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA. “This assessment caused us to look into all aspects of our operations to see where we can lower our footprint and save money in the process. We share our impacts so other organizations can see what to track to cut their emissions.”
To empower other organizations and companies to make these changes, ASLA published Towards Zero Emission Business Operations. The guide is designed to help landscape architecture firms of all sizes navigate the transition to zero-emission offices more easily.
It outlines more than 110 strategies landscape architecture firms can implement to reduce their business and project greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50 to 65 percent by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2040.
Next steps
In the first quarter of 2025, ASLA will release its 2024 business operations impact assessment with a list of actions to be taken in 2025 to further reduce emissions.