Action Launch
Letter Writing Campaign: Start Date November 29th
Canadian architects are committed to creating and renovating buildings with an operational footprint of net-zero carbon by 2050 (the goal of the IPCC special report limiting global mean temperature rise to 1.5ºC). We have demonstrated net-zero precedents that are capital cost-neutral when compared to conventional construction. Reductions of 90-100% operational GHGe and 70% reductions in thermal energy are possible today even on large scale renovation projects, such as the renovation of the OAA’s own headquarters in Toronto, which met the net-zero goal a full decade early with an operational energy reduction of 70%.
We have even produced zero-operational carbon buildings at half the cost of conventional construction. But we must also look at how our business practices may support continued expansion of fossil resources, and we must encourage our financial partners to divest from these practices to keep in line with the 1.5ºC pathways. This action is also important to our clients, and to the allied professionals we work with on a daily basis. Our clients expect us to lead not only in professional knowledge and technology, but also in the way that we practice the business of architecture.
We believe that communicating with our finance and insurance partners is the first step in helping the world of finance understand that Architects have solutions to limit the climate crisis, but that we need their support to take action.
With the help of our finance partners, through divestment from fossil fuels, and with abundant investment green financing, we can achieve a successful transition to a post-carbon future. Canadian architects are prepared to design this post-carbon future with high-performance infrastructure and efficient, resilient communities and buildings running on clean, green and renewable energy. We encourage our professional colleagues to see how other firms have initiated this process by viewing the resources provided here. We welcome your own experiences and stories of divestment here, just drop us a line here at our contact form!
Letter Responses and Divestment/New Account Action
January 2020

EVENTS
- Link to upcoming half day courses (varying dates and locations) on how to implement TFDC recommendations here: https://mantle314.ticketspice.com/introduction-to-climate-disclosure-2
- Join your local #FridaysForFuture Strike Action with a super-sized Poster of your Divestment Letter and post to your social media accounts with the hashtag #architectsdivest
- Future Events; Upcoming General Strike, Friday November 29th, 2019. All Cities worldwide!
- OAA’s Public Panel Discussion ‘The Value of Zero’ – Investing as if the climate mattered here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngBhyVB9VX0
“We must move to a financial institutions that support not only our business, but also our ethical and moral responsibilities as professionals” ~ Andy Thomson, M.Arch, OAA
Our Team
Canadian architects dedicated to a post carbon future
Canadian architects have been informally discussing the lack of green banking and/or fossil-divested banks in Canada. This is important to us as we are committed to take action to reduce the 40% energy and GHG emissions that the AEC sector is responsible for in Canada. This reduction must be radical, and the timeline is urgent. To this end, as many architects have collectively declared their own climate emergencies and signed on to this commitment form at https://ca.architectsdeclare.com/
Jennifer Cutbill is the Vancouver-based Architect from Lateral Agency that started the Canadian Architects Declare Site. Andy Thomson and Bruce Haden have been active in taking action beyond the scope of their design practice and into the way architects do business. Each of their firms have committed to climate-positive activism and advocacy in their respective regions, and collectively we have launched this website to help others follow suit.
BRUCE HADEN, AIBC, MRAIC, LEED®A.P.
Architect, HUMAN STUDIO, VANCOUVER
Bruce is a Principal at Human Studio Architecture and Urban Design. He is passionate about using all tools at his disposal to respond to the climate catastrophe.
JENNIFER CUTBILL, AIBC, FRAIC, LEED®G.A.
ARCHITECT, LATERAL AGENCY, VANCOUVER
Jennifer Cutbill is founding Principal at Lateral Agency – a regenerative development practice focused on systemic change to address symptoms and root causes of our joint crises of climate, health and equity. She initiated the Canadian Architects Declare site to help empower our collaborative agency for transformative change.
ANDY THOMSON, M.Arch, OAA
ARCHITECT, THOMSON ARCHITECTURE, INC. BARRIE
Andy is taking action beyond climate-positive architecture and into green business practices, politics and advocacy and has launched this website to help other Architects and Allied Professionals lead climate action in Canada.
Article Resources
CANADA
- Tyee (Mar 2019) Canada’s major banks have financed $464 billion worth of fossil fuel projects since 2016.
- Canadian Bankers Association – Banks and the Environment (Nov 2019)
- National Observer (Aug 2017) Canadian Banking Heavyweights Step into the Ring on Climate Risk Reporting
- CBC (May 2019) Climate Change Threatens both the ‘Economy and the Financial System’ says Bank of Canada
- CBC (Apr 2019) Financial System Needs to Step Up on Climate Change, Mike Carney Warns
- Report (Oct 2015): Banking on 2 Degrees: Hidden Risks of Climate Change for Canadian Banks
- Report (Apr 2019): Work and Climate Change
- Environmental Defence Report (Oct 2019) Biggest Barrier to Climate Action in Canada: the Oil & Gas Lobby
- Narwhal (Nov 2019) Canada Pension Plan Investments Rely on Oil & Gas Companies Overshooting Climate Targets
- 2019 Bank of Canada Financial System Review (May 2019) – While Canada is still lagging behind other G20 countries, it now recognizes ‘climate change’ as a key vulnerability in its risk analysis.
- CBC (Oct 2019) Why Norwegian Pension Fund is Ditching the Oilsands
- Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Oct 2018) Canada’s Fossil-Fuel Sector Controlled by a Few Major Players – Including the 5 big Banks
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/walvanlierop/2019/12/06/yes-fossil-fuel-subsidies-are-real-destructive-and-protected-by-lobbying
WORLD
- Money is the Oxygen On Which The Fire of Global Warming Burns
- Rainforest Action Network Report: Banking on Climate Change
- Rainforest Action Network: Where Should I put My Money
- The Guardian: Divestment Meta Category
- EIB Divestment
- https://www.divestinvest.org/
- https://medium.com/thebeammagazine/why-is-2018-the-year-that-divestment-is-finally-going-mainstream-39b90960655b
- https://www.businessinsider.com/banks-worth-47-trillion-adopt-new-un-backed-climate-principles-2019-9
- https://www.greenbiz.com/article/growing-concern-over-stranded-assets
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/fossil-fuel-divestment
- https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/publications/
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/climate-change-could-end-mortgages-as-we-know-them/
- http://priceofoil.org/2019/03/20/report-banks-poured-1-9-trillion-into-fossil-fuels-since-paris-agreement/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/22/climate-change-did-we-just-witness-beginning-of-end-of-big-oil.html
- https://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/boes-carney-says-finance-must-act-faster-on-climate-change
BANK POLICIES
- General: https://www.carbontracker.org/reports/breaking-the-habit/
- HSBC: https://350.org/hsbc/
- RBC: http://www.rbc.com/newsroom/news/2019/20190424-green-bond.html
- Vancity:https://www.vancity.com/AboutVancity/VisionAndValues/ValuesBasedBanking/EnvironmentalSustainability/
- Vancity: https://vcim.ca/impact/were-proud-to-address-climate-risk/
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/16/goldman-sachs-targets-750-billion-for-climate-transition-projects.html
- Goldman Sachs becomes first major US bank to stop funding arctic drilling
How will Canadian Banks ensure accountability of adherence to reductions required in the 2018 IPCC Special Report, and will they be in full compliance with PRI/TFCD recommendations?
PROFESSIONAL ACTION
- Architects Advocate
- Architects Declare https://ca.architectsdeclare.com/
- CAPE Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment Divest
- CELA Canadian Environmental Law Association
- Toronto 2030 District
- AIA Advocacy
- Architecture 2030
- Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
- Council on Environmental Quality
- COTE Advocacy
- Environmental Protection Agency
- Fossil Free Funds
- Green Building Council (USGBC)
- NASA
- Natural Resource Defense Council
- National Centers for Environmental Information
- United Nations – Framework Convention on Climate Change
- We Are Still In
- Project Drawdown
- The Value of Zero – Investing in Zero Carbon Architecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngBhyVB9VX0
Organizers
Architects Divest c/o
CANADA
Press Contacts
Architects Divest c/o
Jennifer Cutbill | Vancouver
Bruce Haden | Vancouver
Andy Thomson | Barrie
Contact & Events
Looking for more information or a human to chat with? You can send us an email at the contacts page, and discover events there too!