TRANSFORMATION TO ZERO SUMMIT PRELIMINARY REPORT-OUT

The Transformation to Zero Summit, convened by RMI, NBI, and Architecture 2030, identified key strategies to transition the building sector to zero carbon by 2050. The group prioritized generating demand across specific real estate sectors, driving national models for reach codes and standards, and addressing embodied carbon and workforce training. The organizers plan to conduct a gap analysis of their respective activities to operationalize these goals and develop a comprehensive aligned strategy.

• The summit identified four 'disruptive statements' to guide the transformation of the building sector by 2050: that the entire sector can be zero net carbon, the industry can accelerate the renewable energy market, the zero net carbon building industry can change manufacturing, and a zero net carbon economy can promote social justice and resiliency solutions.
• The group identified several near-term priorities to enable a zero carbon building stock, including the need to incentivize reach codes and standards, establish a public policy basis for rate reform and carbon pricing, and shift the scale of engagement and communication from individual buildings to portfolios and programs.
• The summit established six primary focus areas for future collaboration and the development of the roadmap: generating global demand for zero net carbon buildings and materials in sectors such as government, schools, and the financial sector; driving a national model for reach codes that include embodied carbon and renewable energy; developing policy templates for point-of-sale energy upgrades; focusing on workforce training for high-performance retrofits; linking investor risk to performance outcomes; and benchmarking embodied carbon in new construction.
• RMI, NBI, and Architecture 2030 intend to perform a gap analysis of their current building efficiency and carbon reduction activities to identify strategic needs and new partners required to operationalize the summit's outcomes.

APA

RMI (2016). TRANSFORMATION TO ZERO SUMMIT PRELIMINARY REPORT-OUT. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TransftoZero_PrelimReportOut_20161202.pdf

Chicago

RMI. TRANSFORMATION TO ZERO SUMMIT PRELIMINARY REPORT-OUT. 2016. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TransftoZero_PrelimReportOut_20161202.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=TRANSFORMATION TO ZERO SUMMIT PRELIMINARY REPORT-OUT |date=December 2016 |url=https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TransftoZero_PrelimReportOut_20161202.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2016transformation, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{TRANSFORMATION TO ZERO SUMMIT PRELIMINARY REPORT-OUT}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TransftoZero_PrelimReportOut_20161202.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }