What a Biden Win Means for Sustainable Design

U.S. voters have chosen Joe Biden as the President-elect. What will the leadership change mean for architects, specifically when it comes to sustainable building? For the construction industry, one of the disappointments of the last four years was the failure of the Trump administration to deliver the significant infrastructure legislation he had touted. “We were told and promised Trump would ‘Build America’; it was supposed to be a lot of money in there, almost $1 trillion,” Kenneth E. Rigmaiden, the president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, told The Washington Post in October. “He talked about it before he got elected, after he got elected, and nothing’s happened.”

Biden also adopted a construction-based theme—”Build Back Better”—as his central campaign pledge, and intends to fulfill Trump’s failed promise. The President-elect’s infrastructure plan, which focuses on hot-button topics like climate and environmental justice, appears even more politically controversial than Trump’s. But recent industry trends suggest that Biden’s aspirations may actually meet less resistance—at least in theory.

The recently launched Biden-Harris transition website lists four fundamental priorities, one of which is climate change. On the website, Biden describes global warming as “the challenge that’s going to define our American future,” and declares that confronting it is “a once-in-a-century opportunity to jolt new life into our economy, strengthen our global leadership, and protect our planet for future generations.” Seven of the nine Biden-Harris climate change-related objectives concern buildings and construction: infrastructure, transit, buildings, housing, environmental justice, and innovation—with a mention of “the next generation of building materials.”

Biden describes global warming as ‘the challenge that’s going to define our American future,’ and declares that confronting it is ‘a once-in-a-century opportunity to jolt new life into our economy, strengthen our global leadership, and protect our planet for future generations.’

The Biden climate change plan has similar goals as the Green New Deal but differs in several ways. The Green New Deal aims to make the U.S. carbon neutral in 10 years at an estimated $100 trillion price tag. Biden’s plan has greater short-term specificity: $2 trillion in investments over four years, to be achieved partly by rolling back Trump’s tax cuts. Proposals include carrot-and-stick measures such as renewable energy subsidies and required emissions reductions, with an emphasis on domestic job-creation. Like the Green New Deal, Biden’s plan seeks to protect communities of color that have been disproportionately affected by environmental pollution.

The “Build Back Better” climate change plan also shares commonalities with AIA’s “Blueprint for Better” Climate Plan, which aims to attain net-zero CO2 building-related emissions by 2040, and the Institute’s Framework for Design Excellence. All three plans prioritize clean energy, better air and water quality, support for vulnerable communities, and more efficient use of resources—such as the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. A key difference in the President-elect’s plan is the identification of specific programmatic areas of investment. For example, Biden aims to “spur the construction of 1.5 million sustainable homes and housing units” and “weatherize 2 million homes over 4 years.”

The Framework for Design Excellence will provide helpful guidance for architects who pursue the broad contours of the Biden-Harris climate change plan. The framework offers recommended approaches organized by 10 major principles, each of which includes explicit and detailed guidance. For example, a directive in the passive design section of the “Design for Energy” theme recommends: “To ensure good air tightness, designate one layer of the assembly as the air barrier and ensure that this layer is continuous on six sides, with all seams taped, and all penetrations filled.” A meaningful next step might be the creation of a “bridge” document that connects the different plans, revealing their alignments and priorities as well as potential gaps. (One such gap: The Biden-Harris plan does not mention designing for resilience when it comes to buildings or infrastructure.)

The economic benefits of Biden’s climate plan should create a compelling argument, at least for some conservatives.

Going forward, environmental advocates are concerned that the President-elect will meet stiff resistance in a divided government, particularly if the GOP retains control of the Senate. Trump, and many Republicans, have a longstanding history of climate science denial and support for fossil fuels. But the economic benefits of Biden’s climate plan should create a compelling argument, at least for some conservatives. For example, clean energy stocks have increased in value by 45% this year. In many parts of the globe, renewable power is now cheaper than natural gas and coal. Climate-oriented companies such as Tesla and NextEra have become dominant players in the marketplace. According to The Economist, Tesla is now worth $385 billion, more than the next three largest carmakers combined, and the renewable utility NextEra has recently become the largest energy company in the U.S. Many companies, utilities, and municipalities have established net-zero energy goals, and the anticipated financial (not to mention environmental) advantages of carbon neutrality are becoming more widely appreciated.

Viewed another way, the costs of inaction have become increasingly significant, as any local government or insurance agency responding to climate-induced natural disasters can attest. Given the divisiveness of the election, the lack of a smooth transition of power, and the history of Congressional gridlock, the aspirations of the Biden-Harris climate change plan may seem like a fantasy. But the presidential transition team plans to enact a bold list of climate actions during Biden’s first day in office, including rejoining the Paris agreement. Given the significant emphasis on design and construction in “Build Back Better,” architects should anticipate being deeply involved.

It’s time to get to work.