2022 brought big changes for our industry including the California Climate Commitment, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the approval of significant changes to CALGreen. As we close out the year, we reflect on these major events as well as offer our thoughts on where the industry is headed in 2023. 

Decarbonization 

To say everyone is focused on decarbonization would be an understatement. California has become a leader in promoting sustainable legislation and green building initiatives including decarbonization. Governor Newsome has called for an ambitious climate initiative. A roadmap of this initiative was released last month outlining goals and objectives such as cutting air pollution by 71%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating four million new green energy jobs. A big part of this will be decarbonization and carbon capture. 

Decarbonization and carbon capture will help California achieve carbon neutrality. We anticipate more businesses will look to adopt carbon offsets to improve their sustainability and carbon footprint. In addition, we will continue to adopt new technologies to reduce our carbon footprint and build healthier buildings.  

Resilient Infrastructure 

As natural disasters become more frequent and more intense, climate action plans will continue to address the construction of resilient infrastructure and ensure that construction does not contribute to excessive waste. The IRA (Inflation Reduction Act) provides an additional $1 billion over 10 years for efficient building code adoption grants. Raising the bar for performance expectations will likely drive innovation and investment in more sophisticated and advanced building management and automation systems. The drive to improve the building code structure began in November 2021 with the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

At ID360, we have worked with many municipalities this year to understand and execute mindful construction and demolition practices. We predict that many more cities will pursue local municipal decarbonization policies to comply with their local climate action plans. With the flood of infrastructure funding, we believe this trend will continue in 2023 with not only a heightened awareness but legislation supporting safer waste management. 

Continuing Education 

With both the California Climate Commitment and the Inflation Reduction Act major dollars are supporting the growth of the green workforce. With this, and a change in local codes going into effect Jan 1, 2023, we are anticipating a high demand for continuing education in 2023. Everyone who touches residential and commercial buildings in California must have a level of understanding of decarbonization practices, electrification, and the ever-evolving code structure. Architects, construction professionals, and code enforcers will need continuing education to remain current. At ID360, we heard this, and the need for that education to be affordable and delivered at scale. That is why we launched our Enterprise Program this year and will continue to service architecture firms and municipalities with high-quality, on-demand education offered at scale in 2023. 

2022 brought major legislative changes to our industry of which the tailwinds will be felt in municipalities across the state for years to come. We know decarbonization and electrification will continue to be the top priority and we look forward to working alongside our peers in the industry to support greener, healthier buildings, and communities in 2023.