In 2023, ZGF was honored to be the first architecture firm pledge signatory on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Sector Climate Pledge, standing with leading healthcare organizations in recognizing and rising to the challenge of climate change.

ZGF affirms our ongoing commitment to reduce emissions within our firm and to help build a healthier and more resilient future. Specifically, all Health Sector Climate Pledge signatories commit to:

• Reduce their organization’s emissions by 50% by 2030 and to net zero by 2050 and publicly report on progress
• Complete an inventory of Scope 3 emissions
• Develop climate resilience plans for their facilities and communities

The HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, developed the White House/HHS Health Sector Climate Pledge to address climate action through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions across entire organizational supply chains. The Pledge is open to healthcare organizations and the industries that support and enable their operations.

A September 2021 consensus statement from more than 200 medical journals named climate change the number one threat to global public health. It exposes millions of people to harm every year—with disproportionate impacts on communities that are often already the victims of longstanding discrimination—through increases in extreme heat waves, wildfires, flooding, vector-borne diseases and other factors that worsen chronic health conditions.

The healthcare sector also contributes to climate change itself, accounting for approximately 8.5% of U.S. domestic emissions. With hospitals and medical offices as some of the most energy and carbon intensive building types, progressive action to reduce emissions and ensure resilience in the face of a changing climate cannot wait.

ZGF is proud to leverage decades of designing healthcare environments to support and enable our clients, including many of the Pledge’s signatories, to make significant strides to reduce operational emissions and build resilient infrastructure, ensuring benefits to patients, staff, and surrounding communities.

We are equally committed to carbon reductions within our firm. In 2019, ZGF committed to track and reduce by 55% all scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions within our organization, using life cycle assessment methodology to account for scope 3 emissions whenever possible. ZGF is also a signatory of the AIA 2030 Commitment, AIA Materials Pledge, and 2030 Challenge for Embodied Carbon.