Decarbonizing the Built Environment Through Heritage (DBTH)

Communities and organizations worldwide are demonstrating the benefits of heritage-based building decarbonization. While often perceived as a liability, existing buildings offer huge potential for climate action. And yet, policies and regulations often favor new construction, leaving aside or actively creating barriers to decarbonization through cultural heritage. 

Heritage-based decarbonization strategies, including building reuse, materials circularity, traditional knowledge and construction practices, offer proven climate solutions. The Climate Heritage Network has already begun elevating these solutions into climate and built environment policy; DBTH will expand this work by engaging frontline community organizations to draw from local heritage-based climate work, developing a peer-to-peer network and designing public and industry campaigns to champion changes to policies, codes and practices needed to scale up heritage-based strategies. 

DBTH will work with communities, heritage practitioners and educators to gather replicable solutions. It will provide insight into implementation barriers, assess policy and practice levers, provide communications resources to empower regional and global advocates, and deploy targeted outreach to advance high-impact, heritage-based decarbonization strategies across the building sector.