Climate and Sustainability
Committed & Transparent
We have a fundamental responsibility to be good stewards of the environment and the world’s resources.
As an established international design firm, we acknowledge the global impact of both our operations and our work. While we continue to strive to minimize our impact on the environment, we must also implement state-of-the-art strategies that promote adaptability and resilience, all while embracing innovation – as a means of managing and mitigating the rapidly evolving impacts of climate change.
At Corgan we are keenly aware of our impact on the environment and the communities in which we live and work. Throughout Corgan's global operations and in our projects, we continue to integrate sustainable practices. We know that climate and sustainability is a broad topic that needs to be addressed across all industries, however those of us in AEC have a specific responsibility in how our work impacts communities from chosen materials to water usage and beyond. Thus, we continue to engage and lead the conversation with our peers, our partners, and our clients collectively, for a better future.
Working towards a better future.
At Corgan, we have committed to tracking our operational environmental impact. In 2023, we formalized our sustainability practice, Corgan—Echo, to ensure dedicated support for our studios and our operations firmwide. As part of that effort, Corgan joined the World Green Building Council's Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, the AIA 2030 Commitment and become part of the Climate Group.
Corgan’s Sustainability Commitments
Buildings create about 40% of the world’s carbon emissions. The goal of AIA's 2030 commitment is for all new buildings, developments, and major renovations to be carbon-neutral by 2030. As a firm that’s joined the 2030 Commitment, Corgan has submitted more than 200 projects with energy conservation and lighting power-density percentages that neutralize more carbon than our peers.
As part of the Climate Group, Corgan is now part of a coalition of 120 energy-smart businesses committed to accelerating energy efficiency. The Climate Group targets five industries - energy, transport, built environment and industry - that contribute the most to carbon emissions. As a part of the built environment industry, Corgan has an important role to play in reducing operational and embodied carbon, a key component in the fight against climate change.
Corgan joined the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings (NZCB) commitment as of December 7, 2023. As a signatory to the NZCB commitment, the firm pledged to continually find ways to reduce our operational carbon emissions and mitigate the remaining unavoidable emissions by the end of FY 2025 through credible offsets. In 2024, Corgan laid out a clear path towards decarbonization and began executing strategies to minimize our emissions with the ultimate goal to be carbon neutral in 2025.
Corgan's Climate Action Plan
As an established international design firm, we recognize the global impact of both our operations and our work. While we continually seek to minimize our environmental impact, we also implement state-of-the-art strategies that promote adaptability and resilience, embracing innovation to navigate the rapidly evolving impacts of climate change. Corgan’s Climate Action Plan (CCAP) outlines our response; a set of comprehensive strategies geared towards both mitigating and adapting to climate change. It underscores Corgan’s commitment to fostering sustainability and resilience, creating a healthier planet for current and future generations.
Carbon Credits
Corgan’s 2023 emissions for Scopes 1 and 2 were offset through a portfolio of carbon credit purchases across various national and international projects. These projects support initiatives that promote decarbonization in the built environment, preserve natural resources, mitigate climate change, and advance social equity — reinforcing our ethos and core values. Below are some of the initiatives that Corgan's carbon purchases supported in 2024.
Sustainable Design & Innovation
Environmental context and human wellbeing remain the focus of our design approach and place making. We strive to align our design approach of the built ecosystem with its contextual natural ecosystem. In doing so, we achieve a higher performing architecture that is both environmental and human centric. We are always looking for ways to incorporate sustainable design principles in all our projects. Be it early phase environmental analytics, decarbonization strategies - both operational and embodied, human comfort and well-being or material health, every aspect of our sustainability intervention ripples into greater impact on the project.
Corgan is ranked #17 on ENR's Top 100 Green Building Design Firms.
Learn more about our sustainability group, Corgan-Echo, here.
Bringing Wellness to the Built Environment
At the core of our efforts is a single, firm-wide ambition: to create environments where our clients thrive. WELL and Fitwel certification are instrumental in delivering on that ideal. These performance-based certifications systems help ensure the built environment has a positive impact on human health and well-being, which is why Corgan has over 30 WELL and Fitwel accredited professionals working in our studios. Certified environments include criteria like higher air quality, daylight views, close access to drinking water, lactation rooms, and sit-to-stand desks, among many others. Once viewed as luxury features, WELL and Fitwel criteria now represent the new standard.
We've designed more than 50 million square feet of WELL workplaces in the past five years — including the first WELL-certified building in Texas. Our own headquarters is WELL Gold Certified, and our NYC and Phoenix offices have received 2-star Fitwel certifications.
It’s important to us to provide enhanced well-being to everyone who enters our doors, and to follow the same practices we recommend to our clients.
