Survey from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) shows high demand for increased accountability

ASLA has released the results of a survey on landscape architects’ demand for a new Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program. Over 230 landscape architects, designers, and landscape architecture educators responded to the survey in April 2025.

The survey found that 77 percent of respondents think a Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program is needed for the landscape architecture community.

The architecture, engineering and construction industries have commitment programs, such as the AIA 2030 Commitment. These programs set clear climate goals, track project impacts, and issue public reports on progress.

“Real climate leadership listens first. Through the Climate Action Plan, we heard a clear call: our members want a meaningful way to commit and contribute to climate and biodiversity goals. ASLA is exploring how a potential commitment program could turn insight into impact,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen, Hon. ASLA.

“A commitment program will help build the credibility and relevance of landscape architects’ climate and biodiversity work among our peers in the architecture, engineering, and planning professions,” said Pamela Conrad, ASLA, inaugural ASLA Climate and Biodiversity Action Fellow and Founder, Climate Positive Design. “It will also help us better align with and advance industry standards on built environment data.”

A Climate and Biodiversity Commitment Program for landscape architects will help the community collectively:

• Measure projects’ benefits and impacts
• Increase accountability
• Align with industry standards

A commitment program establishes goals that firms and organizations commit to. Firms typically submit project data, which is then validated, measured in aggregate, and then shared publicly in an annual report.

More than half of survey respondents said a commitment program would enable them to better show their commitment to clients with climate action plans. A majority said a program would support landscape architects’ alignment with other disciplines’ efforts. And a third thought a program would increase landscape architects’ competitive advantage.

Without a commitment program, a minority of landscape architects are consistently tracking their project benefits and impacts:

• 36 percent are tracking water data
• 22 percent are tracking biodiversity data
• 21 percent are tracking carbon data
• 16 percent are measuring heat reductions
• 13 percent are measuring equity benefits

A minority of landscape architects are also now using tools to reduce project greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration. 25 percent of survey respondents are using Climate Positive Design’s Pathfinder while 21 percent are using Sasaki’s Carbon Conscience.

While the lack of a commitment program hinders efforts to measure project data using these tools, there are other obstacles identified by survey respondents:

• Just 19 percent of respondents said they had the knowledge and resources to achieve the measurable goals of the ASLA Climate Action Plan. These include carbon and biodiversity improvements, water use reduction, canopy cover increases, and more.
• Another third said they have the knowledge but lack the resources.
• 16 percent said they don’t receive enough cooperation from clients, allied professions, and manufacturers to achieve the goals.
• Only 23 percent of respondents have their own climate, sustainability or biodiversity action plan to guide progress; another 20 percent said a plan is in development.

But there is also significant progress. More than a third of respondents are now making investments of time and resources to meet ASLA Climate Action Plan goals. They are focusing on a few priorities: employee training and education and researching and specifying low-emission materials.

A majority of respondents think the broad shift to more sustainable landscape architecture projects will impact how the profession designs projects and sources materials. And as the market continues to move towards more sustainable projects, 48 percent of respondents are highlighting or plan to highlight their expertise in climate and biodiversity work.

ASLA and its Climate and Biodiversity Action Committee provide education and resources to help landscape architects decarbonize their projects, including:

• Decarbonizing Specifications: A Guide for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Industry Partners
• Decarbonizing the Design Process: A Phase by Phase Approach for Landscape Architects
• Navigating Environmental Product Data: A Guide for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Industry Partners
• Biodiversity and Climate Action 101 for Landscape Architects, a webinar series free for ASLA members

ASLA and Climate Positive Design continue to explore the feasibility of a new commitment program. Fill out this brief form to get news and stay up-to-date.

“Small actions can lead to big change,” said Alejandra Hinojosa, Affil. ASLA, sustainability specialist with LPA Design Studios.

“You don’t need to feel defeated. You may not accomplish all your climate goals in a project, but that’s not a failure. You can make progress in your next project. Be empowered.”

Last year, Hinojosa and Mariana Ricker, ASLA, associate principal at SWA, published Decarbonizing the Design Process: A Phase by Phase Approach for Landscape Architects.

In an online discussion, Hinojosa said the guide outlines how to make “intentional low-carbon design decisions, address broader environmental impacts, and advocate for better projects.”

“The guide is designed to helpful no matter what stage of the design process,” Ricker said.

The first step is to establish a decarbonization strategy for a landscape architecture project. “It’s best to do that at the beginning, but it’s not impossible to add it in at a later phase,” Hinojosa said.

For clients who may need extra persuading, landscape architects can frame the benefits of decarbonization in terms of “people, the planet, and profit.”

Hinojosa focused on the profit part. There is a clear return on investment for low-carbon projects: “They have lower operational costs.” And these projects offer many co-benefits in terms of healthier materials, more green space, and increased biodiversity.

As designers move into the schematic design phase, they should focus on three big ideas to reduce emissions:

1) Maximize the reuse of materials found on site
2) Incorporate low-impact design, such as green infrastructure
3) Choose low-carbon materials and create more space for soils, plants, and trees to sequester carbon

Overall, it’s also important to reduce materials as much as possible. For example, “reducing cement saves clients money and reduces embodied carbon. It’s a win-win,” Hinojosa said.

These approaches can also be “seamlessly woven” into a project. “What does low-carbon design mean? It’s just part of the vision for a project.”

Later stages of a landscape architecture project also provide opportunities to reduce emissions. Ricker said landscape architects will benefit from talking to product manufacturers about their product and material emissions.

Designers can collaborate with industry partners. They can ask for Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), which are third-party verified accounts of the environmental impacts of a product.

Ricker outlined some key strategies for decarbonizing design details:

• Use local products and materials
• Reduce cement use
• Use as much wood as you can
• Use recycled steel products only as needed
• Use low-carbon aggregates and fills
• Protect and reuse soils

Another session delved into how to decarbonize the design specifications that guide the construction of landscape architecture projects.

Last year, Chris Hardy, ASLA, senior associate at Sasaki and founder of Carbon Conscience, led the development of Decarbonizing Specifications: Guidelines for Landscape Architects, Specifiers, and Contractors.

In another online discussion, Hardy said “every construction project, every material has a global warming impact.” Using the new guidelines can help cut those impacts.

The “guidelines aren’t technical standards; they can’t be copied and pasted into specifications,” but they can guide the revision of specifications.

Busy landscape architects can start with updating their specifications for concrete, which can account for more than 50 percent of the emissions of a project. Hardy said Sasaki recently updated its concrete specifications, resulting in significant emissions cuts.

The guidelines also offer ways to reduce emissions by specifying low-carbon products, materials, and construction practices in other areas, like unit masonry, stone, metals, carpentry, base courses and aggregates, lightweight fill, trees and plants, and more. And Decarbonizing Specifications also covers how to best reuse materials and reduce construction waste.

Landscape architects can take a few approaches to updating their specifications:

• Update office standards
• Update specifications project by project
• Edit specifications in SpecLink or MasterSpec
• Educate external specification writers

The process is worth it: “We can buy less stuff, cut unnecessary embodied carbon, and save clients money.”

ASLA will partner with the National Indian Carbon Coalition (NICC) to offset greenhouse gas emissions from its ASLA 2025 Conference on Landscape Architecture in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 10-13. This is the second year ASLA has partnered with NICC.

While it pursues its goal of achieving zero emissions by 2040, ASLA has committed to purchasing up to 3,750 metric tons of positive climate contributions from NICC this year (equivalent to 3,750 carbon credits). This partnership will also advance the cultural empowerment and climate equity goals of the ASLA Climate Action Plan, which was released in 2022, and ASLA’s Call to Action: Co-creating a Future that Heals Land and Culture, which was released at the ASLA 2024 Conference.

The carbon offsets NICC will provide have been generated in the Tribal Forests of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in Mississippi. The band’s forest carbon project is a natural climate solution that generates carbon credits through Improved Forest Management.

“Landscape architects support the climate goals of Indigenous communities – and, this year, the self-determination of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in achieving their ambitious forest carbon goals. We applaud the band’s efforts to protect their native forests, enhance resilience and biodiversity, and educate the next generation,” said ASLA President Kona Gray, FASLA, PLA.

“By conserving these woodlands and enhancing forest stewardship, we honor the enduring connection the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians holds with this land. Reinvesting carbon revenues into a modernized K–12 education system ensures that this connection not only endures but thrives, empowering future generations to carry it forward,” said Bryan Van Stippen, Program Director, NICC.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians will use the income generated from carbon offset sales, which would otherwise come from harvesting trees, to:

• Build a new 35-acre K-12 school campus
• Steward a native, growing forest
• Enhance biodiversity and protect habitat
• Support long-term carbon storage
• Create measurable climate benefits

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians has a Climate Action Plan that guides its investment in forest and wetland management, solar energy, electric school buses, biofuels, building energy efficiency, and sustainable waste management. The Tribe has created climate benefits by enrolling more than 25,000 acres into a forest carbon project in 2020. The project will protect 12 million trees from harvesting for 40 years.

The lands of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians span 35,000 acres and include more than 26,000 acres of forest. The forest carbon project will protect lowland cypress swamps and diverse ecosystems that support the growth of gum, hickory, oak, pine, and other tree species. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians’ land is home to a range of water birds, including herons and egrets; white-tailed deer; and alligators. Some trees are harvested to create culturally significant objects, such as drums, stickball sticks, and blowguns.

Funds from the forest carbon project will go to constructing a new 35-acre educational campus. The campus will include new middle and high school buildings, a gymnasium, a basketball arena, a Career and Technical facility, and a renovated football and track field.

“Land stewardship has always been important to our Tribe, and the emerging [carbon] market gives us an invaluable opportunity to continue to protect and preserve our forested tribal lands and address our children’s educational needs,” said Cyrus Ben, Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

The lead sponsor of ASLA 2025 conference carbon offsets is KOMPAN.

In 2024, ASLA partnered with the National Indian Carbon Coalition on carbon offsets. ASLA’s members and sponsors contributed more than $53,000 to purchase more than 3,500 credits, a 23 percent increase over 2023.

Attendees and exhibitors: Please offset your attendance at the ASLA 2025 Conference during the registration process or via this contribution form.

Road accidents are a leading cause of death worldwide, causing 1.19 million fatalities each year. More than 90 percent of these fatalities occur in low and middle income countries. And more than half of fatalities worldwide are among pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. Another 20-50 million people suffer from traffic injuries each year, with many of those injuries resulting in disabilities.

This year’s Transforming Transportation conference in Washington, D.C. focused on new strategies to improve safety for all people — pedestrians, cyclists, public transit users, and motorists. Co-hosted by the World Bank and World Resources Institute, the two-day event explored ambitious efforts to roll-out safe and sustainable networks of complete streets, bicycle infrastructure, bus rapid transit, and electric vehicles worldwide.

“Strengthening national road safety policies saves lives,” said Kelly Larson with Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Since 2007, Bloomberg has made road safety a top priority.” Larson said their advocacy has helped save 312,000 lives worldwide. “We’ve also strengthened 100 policies that protect more than 4 billion people. We are focused on making streets for people, not cars.”

Bloomberg Philanthropies aims to reduce vehicle speeds through “hard-driving media campaigns” and new infrastructure, enhanced data collection, and improved traffic enforcement.

According to Marie Eugenia Martinez Donaire, with the City Council of Madrid, Spain, complete streets, which provide safe and accessible sidewalks, bike lanes, and car lanes, are key to reducing traffic accidents. The city is also tracking accidents via radars and cameras to identify problematic areas and make improvements that reduce injuries.

Safer streets also enable schoolchildren to get to school, said Mamta Murthi with the World Bank. A road safety program in India has led to increased attendance and exam completion rates. Better quality roads, with sidewalks and separate bike lanes, enables more students to walk or bike to school. Campaigns aimed at teenagers also encourage safe biking.

Jean Todt, Special Envoy to the UN Secretary General for Road Safety and a former race car driver, said there has been progress on traffic fatalities worldwide. “50 years ago, France saw 18,000 fatalities per year; last year, there were 3,000.”

But he said much greater progress needs to be made, particularly in developing countries. He thinks public education is essential. Awareness campaigns can encourage governments to set national road safety agendas that bring together transportation, health, and police departments.

The UN is also working to expand access to highly safe, ventilated helmets for two- and three-wheel motorcycles that can sell for $20. The riders of these vehicles account for 30 percent of total traffic deaths each year — more than 357,000 people.

The UN’s goal is for developing countries to require a safe helmet like the one developed by the UN with TotalEnergies and then provide subsidies to include a helmet with each new motorbike sale. “We want 500 million of these helmets produced.”

Another conversation focused on how to encourage safe biking. With high-quality infrastructure, this form of transportation offers so many benefits: increased health and well-being and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion, noise, and pollution.

According to Kristian Hedberg with the European Union (EU) delegation to the U.S., the EU invests billions each year in cycling infrastructure, including protected bike lanes. Many major European cities already act as hubs for broader cycling networks, but the EU now requires smaller cities of 150,000 people or more to also develop sustainable urban mobility plans and expand the benefits of safe cycling infrastructure to more communities.

The Netherlands, perhaps the world’s cycling leader, has created a cycling embassy to bring its transportation planning knowledge and resources to developing countries. Their goal is to create 10,000 cycling infrastructure experts in the developing world within the next 10 years, said Lucas Harms with the Government of the Netherlands.

Cities in the developing world are also investing in active mobility. Chennai, India, has an ambitious plan to make 80 percent of its main roads safer complete streets that are pedestrian and bike friendly in just over a decade. Lima, Peru plans to develop more than 600 kilometers of protected bike lanes by 2030. A recent $150 million investment from the World Bank will support 50 kilometers of new lanes.

Despite the clear benefits of safe biking infrastructure, it still remains a low priority on the global climate agenda. Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros with Climate Lead, said “biking is not on the radar of global climate policy makers, even with the health and clean air benefits.”

Other sessions explored how climate change is complicating investments in transportation infrastructure. Rising seas and increased flooding means new roads need to be built higher and older roads need to be elevated and more green infrastructure is needed.

Zambia in Sub-Saharan Africa is investing in green infrastructure to “prevent flood damage to roads,” said Charles Milupi, Minister of Infrastructure in Zambia. “Climate change is real — elevating roads and [green infrastructure] is a must for flood-prone communities. We must change our infrastructure accordingly.”

And the Kingdom of Bhutan, a mountainous country between India and China, is building a new Mindfulness City with “mindful infrastructure” that is designed to adapt to melting glaciers and increased river flow, said Tashi Penjor, managing director of the new city in Gelephu. The city and its transportation networks, which are designed by landscape architects at Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), will privilege walking and improve community health and resilience. “We conceptualize projects to be green, clean, safe, and happy.”

Electric vehicles are another important climate and health solution. In Lahore, Pakistan, air pollution can be ten times higher than safe levels. Poor air quality has led to flight cancellations and school closures. “We have a smog season now — that’s fog plus smoke,” explained Imran Sikandar, Transport and Mass Transit Department with the Government of Punjab, Pakistan. Electric vehicles are seen as a way to reduce pollution from cars, trucks and two- and three-wheelers. Efforts are underway to switch to electric buses, develop bus rapid transit lines, and incentivize the replacement of 30 percent of fossil fuel-powered vehicles with cleaner and cheaper electric ones.

Other organizations and cities are taking on the challenges preventing the expansion of electric vehicles in cities. These include “range anxiety” due to the lack of convenient urban charging stations and the lack of universal charger standards. In dense cities like New York, the goal is to put more chargers on streets where people live and in parking garages.

“The current tariff situation is volatile and causing uncertainty, neither of which are helpful to any business regardless of location. It puts businesses into a reactionary mode versus being able to implement planned initiatives in a thoughtful manner,” said Margie Simmons, CEO of Landscape Forms, a site furnishing and outdoor lighting company based in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The Trump administration’s shifting tariff policies have increased concerns for landscape architecture product manufacturers and the landscape architects who specify their products.

“We are uncertain how the tariffs may impact our production and are concerned about what impacts a trade war with Canada, Mexico, and China may have on our global market and the general supply chain,” said Jamie McArdle, Business Developer with Victor Stanley, a site furnishing company headquartered in Dunkirk, Maryland.

“We have a subsidiary in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where approximately 50 percent of our material is produced. We also manufacture aluminum and steel products domestically, which are due to be hit with the material tariffs. We figure we’re poster children for being affected by the changes,” said Christopher Lyon, President, Tournesol Siteworks, a site furnishing, trellis, and custom fabrication company based in Union City, California.

In February, the Trump administration issued a 10 percent tariffs on all goods imported from China and later raised that to 20 percent. In March, Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico, and elsewhere. And then also initiated an investigation into whether lumber, timber, and copper imports are a national security threat.

Since these actions, the European Union, China, and Canada have retaliated with tariffs of their own. Canada recently announced reciprocal tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum products and other goods, like tools and cast-iron products.

The Trump administration has stated these tariffs are just the start of an effort to recalibrate relationships with all trading partners. On April 2, new reciprocal tariffs will be announced on many more imported products and materials. Trump will give “trading partner countries a reciprocal tariff number that reflects their own rates, non-tariff trade barriers, currency practice, and other factors,” Reuters reports.

Adding to the uncertainty – one administration official said this number will start a period of negotiation between the U.S. and other countries on reducing mutual tariffs, while another stated that any negotiation needs to happen prior to the April 2 numbers release.

Amid this flux, landscape architecture product manufacturers are trying to gauge potential impacts on their supply chains.

“We estimate that a 25 percent tariff on products imported from Mexico would cost the company $10,000 per month. So yes, the cost concern and uncertainty associated with the tariffs is very, very high,” said Lyon.

“We can increase prices based on future orders, but we have a substantial number of orders already placed by contractors. These contractors have bid the project, and a change to them or to the owner is critically difficult. The tariff means that someone is going to have to pay – whether it’s us, the contractor, or the owner, who wasn’t expecting to pay.”

“Landscape Forms is already heavily invested in domestic materials, parts, and manufacturing as a significant part of our long-standing commitment to sustainability and to offer our North American customers high-quality outdoor solutions with lead times they can count on to maintain their project schedules,” Simmons said.

But “there are certain components and parts that simply are not readily available in North America, so the impact will be felt across entire industries that require those items, not just by Landscape Forms.”

McArdle noted that Victor Stanley uses “U.S. recycled steel local to our production facilities as our primary material. [But] we do have a few components, such as our more ornate castings, that are outsourced and may be imported.”

These manufacturers are also looking at the potential impacts on their customers abroad. “Tariffs within North America cause us greater concern as we have highly valued Canadian customers, partners, and team members,” Simmons said. “It’s a considerable part of our business that we have invested in for the past 20-plus years.”

Tariffs are expected to lead to significant changes in the market for U.S. produced materials and products. “If tariffs remain in place, I expect to see an increase in domestic material sourcing and product manufacturing,” said Gary Sorge, FASLA, vice president of landscape architecture at Stantec.

“I hope to see greater emphasis on recycling and upcycling, specifically the use of salvaged lumber, steel, concrete, and glass in the manufacturing of site amenities and building products. Local manufacturing and sourcing may become more cost competitive in comparison to tariff-laden imports. Local sourcing and reduction in transport distance may also reduce the carbon footprint of materials and products.”

But tariffs are still creating worries about increased costs and lead times. “Tariffs on steel and aluminum simply raise the price of all sources of material, domestic or otherwise. Domestic producers immediately raise their prices to the tariffed level. There is no difference in availability. Tariffs simply raise prices, period,” Lyon said.

“The needless stress of higher costs in an interconnected world is going to lead to fewer projects being done. Construction gets more expensive, owners are less likely to build, and invest in the kinds of projects we all like to be associated with.”

“I’ll defer to economists and financial analysts, but I expect everything to be more expensive, including labor. Increases may also impact the cost of construction equipment and replacement parts. This will increase the cost of all construction,” Sorge said.

“In terms of lead times, as designers we need to – and do – anticipate challenges and alert our clients accordingly. If a product has a lengthy lead time, we identify this during design and provide suitable alternatives. If we are not aware, project contractors will likely raise the issue during shop drawing and submittal review, and this could result in unwelcome and costly project delays.”

As demand for domestic products and materials increase, landscape architects and their clients may also see higher costs for sustainable domestic alternatives as well, complicating efforts to decarbonize projects.

Landscape Forms remains confident on that front for now. “We believe we can still prioritize more sustainable material attributes in the face of tariffs,” Simmons said.

Future trade investigations and potential reciprocal tariffs continue to add uncertainty. Many landscape architects specify trees and plants grown in Canada and wood and stone products sourced from Canada. And fabricated products cross the southern border during the manufacturing process. Other landscape architecture products and materials come from the European Union, China, and Southeast Asia. Costs and lead times may increase for a range of imported products.

Delays and cuts to landscape architecture projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act are another cause of worry. Combined with tariffs, “this could have serious implications for us and our industry as a whole,” McArdle said. Efforts to decarbonize the energy sector and industrial processes are also facing uncertainty.

Simmons said in “volatile and uncertain times, trust and communication” between landscape architects and product manufacturers is “even more vital to decision making on projects.”