Gensler’s goal is to be proactive with its project work by encouraging the adoption of ESG principles that help clients achieve design-resilience and create places that have not only market value, but also environmental and social value. Its further goal is for Gensler building designs to be net-carbon zero by 2030.

Gensler Research Institute’s report Climate Action Through Design outlines the necessary investment required for the built environment to be resilient and positively contribute to marginalized communities. Buildings account for 36 percent of global energy use, therefore addressing the built environment’s impact on climate change is both a moral and business imperative.

Too often, poor communities, people of color and marginalized groups are those living in areas that lack parks to balance the heat and lack the infrastructure to handle floods and storms. These groups are also far more likely to suffer health conditions such as asthma or cancer related to poor air and water quality due to proximity to industrial locations and disinvestment, says the report.

Because of these health risks and the destruction caused by extreme weather, people are beginning to leave less-habitable places. According to the Global Center for Adaptation, 1.2 billion people worldwide will face displacement or forced migration by 2050 because of ecological threats, which would exacerbate climate-related problems.