On October 4, 2024, the ACHP co-sponsored an in-person and virtual one-day conference, U.S. Climate Heritage in the International Context, which took place at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
Co-convened by ACHP Chair Sara C. Bronin and Georgetown Law Professor J. Peter Byrne, the event was generously co-sponsored by Georgetown University Law Center, Georgetown Climate Center, Cornell Law School, Cornell Center for Social Sciences, and the American Institute of Architects, and featured leaders who addressed domestic and international climate heritage.
View the recording of the conference livestream.
Library of Congress Report: Climate Change and Historic Preservation
In light of the first multi-agency (ACHP) U.S. federal policy statements on Climate Change and Historic Preservation and on Indigenous Knowledge and Historic Preservation, the conference focused on how federal preservation and cultural heritage policy of the United States can be informed by the domestic activities of other countries to both better adapt and protect the nation's cultural heritage from the effects of climate change and utilize historic buildings as a climate change mitigation tool.
Speakers highlighted other nations' efforts to:
- re-use existing buildings as a key decarbonization tool;
- support Indigenous Knowledge to prepare for climate change and support self-determination;
- adapt historic sites to climate change; and
- center climate heritage in their domestic policy.
Opening remarks were delivered by:
Professor J. Peter Byrne, John Hampton Baumgartner, Jr. Professor of Real Property Law; Faculty Director, Georgetown Climate Center
The Honorable Sara C. Bronin, Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Kathleen Lane, Managing Director of Climate Action and Design Excellence, American Institute of Architects
Links to Presentations:
Panel 1: Indigenous Knowledge’s Role in Climate Change Response
Sarah Forgesson, a New Zealand-born, Māori archaeologist, Education and Knowledge Director of the ICOMOS/National Geographic project “Preserving Legacies: A Future for our Past"
Links:
Te Ara ki Kōpū | Te Arawa Climate Change Strategy
Climate Change Te Kounga Paparangi
Te Rautaki Huringa Āhuarangi Climate Change Strategy
Guidelines for engagement with Māori
Incorporating Māori perspectives
Luana Campos, a Brazil-based historian who works with Quilombolos on heritage and climate change matters
Keynote Speaker: George Kremlis - George Kremlis is the President of the Circular Economy and Climate Institute at the European Public Law Organization, Chairman of the Greek Initiative at the UN level on protecting cultural and natural heritage from the impacts of climate change, and the former Principal Advisor to the Greek Prime Minister on energy, climate, environment and circular economy issues.
Panel 2: Climate Mitigation Strategies Incorporating Heritage 
Erica Avrami, Moderator, Expert Member, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, James Marston Fitch Associate Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation
Simon Sturgis, UK-based architect and expert on decarbonization in the built environment, founder of Targeting Zero, the Carbon Consultancy
Antonio Jesús Antequera Delgado, a civil servant in the General Subdirectorate of Management and Coordination of the Cultural Assets at the Ministry of Culture of Spain; oversaw the Spanish government’s report on managing cultural heritage in the face of climate change
Panel 3: Climate Change Adaptation: Domestic Efforts Towards Climate Heritage Policy
Carlos del Cairo Hurtado, archaeologist and anthropologist involved in Maritime cultural landscapes, underwater archaeology, and research with coastal communities in Cartagena de Indias.
Cathy Daly, was the lead researcher and author for Ireland’s “Climate Change Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Built and Archaeological Heritage,” (2019) and is assisting the Irish government with its implementation. She is a Lecturer in Conservation at the University of Lincoln UK, and research consultant with Carrig Conservation in Ireland.