RESILIENCE
BY DESIGN
Walmart Home Office, Bentonville, Arkansas
Protect communities and investments from extreme weather.

Climate events such as extreme heat, wildfire, drought, hurricanes, and flooding are accelerating in frequency and scale, exposing a widening gap between the resilience of the built environment and the demands now placed on it.

Our latest research shows most people recognize the threat climate uncertainty poses to their own lives, but few believe their cities are ready. Incredibly, 7 in 10 people globally are considering leaving their city in the next five years if environmental conditions do not improve.

By documenting global climate preparedness and tracking energy use across our operations, we’re taking steps to slow and even reverse the climate crisis. Three things are critical to these efforts: First, resource stewardship to reduce operational and embodied carbon emissions and slow climate change. Second, climate preparedness to protect lives and investments from extreme weather events. Third, regeneration to restore ecosystems that provide natural safeguards against extreme weather.

Chapter 1
Close the gap between climate risk and climate preparedness.

Our cities are being exposed to increasingly severe weather — a threat that today’s infrastructure is not prepared to combat. This slow-motion crisis has tangible consequences for business operations, financial assets, and the livelihood of our communities. Meaningful design starts with understanding the specific risks present in each climate zone and the risks posed to doing “business as usual.” The design phase is where resilience is either built in or permanently lost. Site selection, building systems, and material specification are all significant instruments in risk mitigation and some of the most consequential investments in the long-term success of any built asset.

Climate change is a major risk to global cities, but few are prepared to face it.
The percentage of residents in each city and climate zone who believe climate change poses a major risk to their city, compared with the percentage of residents who believe their city is doing well on “Climate Disaster Preparedness.”
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Chapter 2
Reduce energy use to reduce climate risk.

If our cities are underprepared, our buildings can carry some of the burden. Designers and planners have a strong role to play: Reducing a building’s energy consumption reduces carbon emissions, driving our environmental stewardship of the future.

Gensler designs over one billion square feet of space every year, which gives us an enormous responsibility — and opportunity. As a signatory of the AIA 2030 commitment, we have pledged to achieve projected net-zero operational carbon across our portfolio by 2030. Transparently reporting our energy use and carbon emissions is an important step in achieving our climate goals and pushing the rest of the industry to do the same. This commitment to low-energy performance extends to our own office operations, where we continue to reduce emissions using the same strategies we bring to every project we design.

Nearly 90% of Gensler’s carbon footprint comes from indirect Scope 3 emissions, primarily Capital Goods and Purchased Goods & Services.
The total estimated carbon footprint of all Gensler offices and the sources of these emissions in 2025. Data includes estimated emissions from 56 Gensler offices. Scope 1 emissions come directly from fuel burned at a building site. Scope 2 emissions come indirectly from purchased energy used at the building site. Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect operational emissions.
Conclusion
Prioritize resilience in all future design decisions.

The data is clear: Most cities are underprepared, and the window to act is shrinking. For clients, the question is no longer whether climate risk affects your assets. It’s whether your next project is designed to account for it. Site selection, structural systems, sustainable material specification, and energy performance are climate risk-management decisions, and they must be treated as such from day one.

Buildings designed with extreme weather and resource efficiency as primary drivers perform better, cost less to operate, and carry significantly less long-term exposure. That outcome is achievable, but it requires specificity: Know the climate zone your asset sits in. Understand the most pressing risks in your climate zone. Demand that your design response address each of these threats directly, at the level of site, systems, and materials.