Happening Now

Today, local and state climate policies, whether proposed or enacted, serve as reliable indicators and public reminders of each community’s engagement. Meanwhile, we can see national and international policies signaling their long-term commitments. Innovation continues to brew in universities, and carbontech startups are highlighting new ways not only to reduce emissions but, in parallel, remove them in the years ahead.

Look no further than the City CDR Initiative, co-led by members of the design and carbon communities, on a bold mission to embed Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) into city planning worldwide. The initiative envisions cities as “carbon sinks” embedding carbon removal into urban planning and the built environment. This timely integration of low-carbon building materials, climate technologies, and enabling policies foretells the crucial role that carbon dioxide removal can play in helping to restore our climate.

Altogether, these examples show no shortage of ideas or will to pursue climate action. Instead, they reveal the steady stream of communities, companies, and countries working towards building a livable future. Now, more of us need to participate and build on this momentum.

Looking Forward

In 2026, we’ll continue amplifying the exemplary work of those advancing climate resilience, emissions reduction, and carbon removal (the three pillars of climate action) by spotlighting the diverse creators responding to climate change and inspiring others to join them.

Our focus remains on designing for decarbonization through innovative biological, technological, and experimental approaches. And we’ll elevate carbon removal efforts further because, once removed, carbon utilization has a direct, actionable, and exponential effect on the design community. We can see the pace and near-term progress for this utilization becoming economically viable, even though it still feels unfamiliar and nascent to many.

Repurposing Carbon

As the practice of circular design grows worldwide, so does the opportunity to link carbon utilization to one of its 9Rs, Repurposing. Through this practice, CO₂ emissions — removed from the atmosphere or from a point source, such as a smokestack — can become repurposed for a wide range of uses in the built environment.

CO₂ emissions from airborne waste are warming our world. But they also present an abundant resource that can be tapped to create new materials and develop emerging industries, thereby increasing profits and job opportunities.

For the design disciplines that shape the built environment, carbon utilization promotes the circular production of fossil-free products and construction materials, helping to decarbonize the world. And the more demand we create for this now, the sooner this future will arrive.

Now Becomes Next

Our forthcoming winter newsletter will showcase a brand-new selection of Parsons School of Design ID graduate student projects. It is the second year of this progressive curriculum, in collaboration with Lot₂₁, and we hope you’ll find these fresh concepts as exciting as we do. You can view the previous year’s graduate-level selections in Academia.

We’re also in the planning stage of incorporating Lot₂₁’s climate action framework into the curricula of other leading design schools. The framework easily complements circular design programs by integrating a distinct climate-action lens, thereby preparing the next generation of systems design thinkers to address climate change better.

With you, we can do a lot more!

Lew Epstein

Founder / CEO

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The Year In Review — Our 2025 Quarterlies

Winter 2025 / Class of 2025

Parsons School of Design, MFA ID, Global Studio, stands out for its commitment to forging a better future through designing for decarbonization. Guided by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #13: Climate Action, and its three pillars — climate resilience, emissions reduction, and carbon removal — the globally diverse graduate students developed projects ranging from children’s footwear made with biochar to a new regenerative agriculture practice. Beginning with research and discovery, concepts were translated into physical prototypes, with each iteration informing and improving the next.

The Class of 2025 demonstrated concepts that are both viable now and promising for tomorrow, illustrating how rigorous education and creative collaboration can raise climate literacy and
catalyze meaningful action. Moreover, these students’ work reflects a generation’s conviction that restoring our climate can — and should — be a standard practice, and that all of us can find a way to participate in this quest.

Spring 2025 / Participation Is Progress

A groundbreaking study reveals that up to 89% of people in 125 countries desire more decisive climate action, though many are unaware they form part of this silent majority. Global efforts like The 89 Percent Project are amplifying this collective will and encouraging more individuals to join the movement. Opportunities to contribute to climate progress — such as staying informed via accessible news and podcasts, joining advocacy groups, and sharing resources — are increasingly global and inclusive. 

While not everyone will be a climate activist, we can all be climate pragmatists, making practical, science-based choices and inspiring others to act. Your participation, no matter how big or small, multiplies our impact and moves us closer to a safer, more sustainable future. Together, as a rising majority, we can drive meaningful change.

Summer 2025 / A Tale Of Two Streams

Given the worrisome global forecasts of increasing waste levels by 2050 — particularly rising carbon emissions — it’s encouraging to see innovative methods for sustainably managing solid (visible) and airborne (invisible) waste streams now. Companies are shifting toward more circular, closed-loop systems that minimize and optimize waste by rethinking materials and manufacturing processes from the start. This includes carbon removal and its use in building materials and products, opening up a new frontier for low-embodied-carbon solutions.

Across industries and the design and carbon communities, we see innovators turning waste into value by adopting circular practices in their daily decisions and advocating for responsible policies supporting this shift. Ultimately, transforming the world’s ever-growing waste streams will become an integral part of modern production and waste management — because it’s practical, marketable, and necessary for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.