A series of pledges, published by the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) in conjunction with Green Building Councils from across the globe, outline the commitments made by more than 50 British construction companies to reduce carbon emissions.
The pledges were formally published at Buildings Day – the official COP21 meeting led by Ségolène Royal, the French Minister of Ecology – and included the following:
– Corporate pledges from more than 50 businesses operating in the UK, and over 100 globally, committing to play their part in delivering the necessary carbon reductions.
– All 74 national Green Building Councils, under the umbrella of the World Green Building Council, commit to driving ‘Net Zero Carbon’ new building and large scale energy efficient refurbishment of the existing building stock in order to play their role in limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees. The sector must reduce emissions by 84 GtCO2 by 2050, the equivalent of taking 22,000 coal-fired power stations out of existence.
– Green Building Councils around the world are committed to register, renovate or certify over 1.25bn m² of green building space and train over 127,000 green building professionals by 2020.
Julie Hirigoyen, CEO of UK-GBC, has commented: “The eyes of the world are on Paris, but it is not just down to the politicians to make it a success. There is a clear business case for the construction and real estate sector to cut carbon emissions from buildings. The climate pledge commitments from our members demonstrate the widespread industry support for urgent action, and point to a market that is transforming itself.”
Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council, added: “While the building sector is a major contributor to climate change, it is an essential part of the solution – and one that brings immediate benefits to economy and society. Green Building Councils, their private sector members and Government partners have committed to transform the global buildings industry to not only help us reach a 2 degree world tomorrow, but enable us to realise the direct benefits from a new way of building – today.”
A list of the pledges made by UK-GBC members can be viewed here
