Event Description

With the release of the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, policymakers, business leaders, designers, and everyday people are realizing how dire our situation has become. Temperatures will continue to rise, chaotic weather events such as droughts, floods, fires, and extinction will worsen. The scientific consensus is that we’ve locked ourselves into a warming planet, and the choices we make in the immediate future will only determine just how bad conditions will become.  

“The problem is tricky because it’s one you can’t see in your day-to-day life, but it’s a risk that continues to grow with each day we fail to find the collective will to make change happen,” says Drew Shula, an architect by training, who is the founder and CEO of sustainability consulting firm Verdical Group,  which is focused on decarbonizing the built environment and host of the annual Net Zero Conference.   

Shula started the conference eight years ago with the intention of bringing people together to catalyze a transformation away from fossil fuel energy sources to renewable energy. “We’re connecting radical thought leaders, activists, and visionaries, with boots-on-the-ground architects, designers, builders, and engineers. Collectively, we’re taking on one of the most entrenched and powerful industries in the world, the fossil fuel industry, and inspiring change toward a net zero future,” he explains.