Education Requirements Related to Climate Action

In January 2022, OAA Council approved a new requirement for the mandatory 2022–2024 Continuing Education cycle. All OAA members must complete a minimum of two structured learning hours focused on Climate Action. At its May 2024 meeting, Council approved a motion to continue this requirement for the 2024–2026 cycle as well.

Established as a priority for the OAA in 2020, and reconfirmed this year as a theme for its five-year Strategic Plan, Climate Action is a lens through which the OAA examines its work of regulating the practice of architecture. The Association maintains a focus in its programming and framework to ensure members have the education and resources needed to incorporate design approaches that address the climate emergency in both new construction and renovation.

Having an educated, skilled profession able to design a resilient, sustainable built environment, including dwellings and communities, is paramount for the public interest. The architecture profession is ideally suited to provide new, thoughtful solutions to advance Climate Action.

To fulfil the new requirement for two hours of Structured Learning related to Climate Action by June 30, 2024, members can seek out their own learning opportunities or select from related sessions included in the OAA Continuing Education Webinar Series. To be eligible, the sessions must focus on topics including, but not limited to:

• Adaptive reuse;
  
• Deep-energy retrofits;
  
• Embodied carbon;
  
• Energy modelling;
  
• Energy step codes (e.g. Toronto Green Standard)
  
• High-efficiency wall assemblies;
  
• Life cycle analysis;
  
• Local materials and supply chains;
  
• Low-carbon design;
  
• Material reuse strategies
  
• Operational and embodied carbon (and offsets);
  
• Passive House;
  
• Regenerative design;
  
• Resiliency;
  
• Sustainability metrics (e.g. TEUI, TEDI, and GHGI);
  
• Sustainable design; and
  
• Zero emissions design.
  

Click here for more information on the Continuing Education cycle, as well as a new FAQ with specific questions about the Climate Action requirement and how to report hours on your OAA transcript. To see a list of all sessions at the 2024 OAA Conference that qualified for this requirement, click here.