Built Environment & Transportation
The built environment and transportation are significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions, but they can also be a key part of the solution to climate change.
The coming decades present a host of challenges for our built environments. To become more livable for more people, cities themselves will need to become smarter, with buildings, bridges and infrastructure that are no longer static but dynamic, able to adapt and respond to what’s going on around them.
Building Green, Traveling Clean
The built environment and transportation sectors are pivotal in addressing climate change, accounting for a combined 60% of global carbon emissions. Buildings and infrastructure consume nearly 40% of energy, while transportation consumes approximately 30%. These sectors offer significant opportunities for emissions reduction.
By prioritizing energy-efficient buildings, renewable energy integration, and sustainable urban planning, we can significantly reduce emissions and energy consumption. Additionally, investing in public transit, cycling, and electric vehicles can decrease our reliance on fossil fuels and improve air quality. Through strategic action in these areas, we can create a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient future for generations to come.
“The combined effect of a city’s significant climate change contributions—as well as its considerable exposure and vulnerability of urban residents to its impacts—positions cities at the core of the challenge to address climate change.”
Built Environment & Transportation Climate Solutions Accelerator Projects
Co-Design Climate Resilient Community Health and Climate Justice in Harrisburg, Pa.
Designing the Future of Recovery: Catalyzing Conversations on Community-Centric Resilient Housing Solutions in Rural Appalachia
Furthering Indigenous-Led, Nature-based solutions through Rights and Onsets in the Global South
Integrated CO2 Mineralization and Critical Mineral Recovery for Sustainable Urban and Transportation Systems
Augmenting Climate Transition across the Atlantic Transect: Extension-driven Solutions to Implementing Socially Responsible, High-Integrity Forest Carbon Offsets
Biomaterials and Nature-Based Solutions: Achieving a Sustainable, Decarbonized, and Climate-Resilient Built Environment
Building Capacity for Subnational Climate Action
Carbon Management: Capture, Transport, and Geological Storage
Scaling One Health Approach through Multistakeholder Engagement in Arthropod Adaptations to Ecosystem Plasticity Associated with Climate Change
Research Program for Assisted Subnational Climate Planning
Climate-Driven Pluvial Flooding: Impacts on Environmental Non-Migrants in Central Pennsylvania
Developing and Evaluating Climate Solutions Educational Strategies through Leave No Trace
Developing Transformative Youth-Centered Research Agendas & Intergenerational Collaborations to Foster Climate Justice Solutions
Implementing State-Level Climate Change Policy and Management for Water Resources
The Penn State – Belizean Foundation for Research and Environmental Education Consortium Workshop
Penn State Mineral Dust and GeoHealth Workshop
Protecting Indigenous Lands and Promoting Ethical Conservation Practices Through Design of a Sustainable Environmental Monitoring Network
Resilience and Equity in Addressing Climate Health
Impact
Penn State collaborating on a study of climate change impacts and adaptation
The program will study the impacts of climate change in three major U.S. cities — Baltimore, Chicago and Austin — to make climate science work for cities.
NASA-funded research seeks to address vulnerability to extreme heat in cities
A NASA-funded project will support the development of an internet-based design and planning-decision support platform that will help equitably address urban heat management at the building, neighborhood and city scales.