The UN climate talks held earlier this month in Dubai ended with a deal that seemed unlikely only a day before: Representatives from nearly 200 nations at the 28^th Conference of Parties (COP28) signed an agreement that calls for “transitioning away” from fossil fuels in a “just, orderly, and equitable manner.” Some hailed the outcome as a milestone, since in the almost 30-year history of the conference delegates had never reached consensus on language that included stepping back from oil and gas. But others criticized the pact as inadequate, since it fell short of calling for the fossil fuel “phase out” that most countries had been pushing for. 

The results of the negotiations dominated much of the news coverage emerging from COP. But the headlines revealed little about developments that happened in parallel, or their relevance to buildings and those who design them. RECORD spoke to a handful of architects and industry experts who were on the ground in Dubai to get their take.