WOBO thanks Modern Building Services for their link to the Climate Change “wake up call”.
In advance of COP26 in November, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released their report yesterday. To meet their objective of limiting global temperature rises of 1.5oC, the demands on the construction sector will be great. Here’s what the industry had to say in response.
“This report is an ‘as clear as it gets’ wake up call to Governments, Businesses, and Citizens to start doing their bit.” – Suzanne Wallace, IES
The built environment industry will have a major role to play, and major changes to make, if the most serious risks outlined in the IPCC report released yesterday ahead of COP26 in November are to be avoided.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report said human influence is “Very Likely” (90%) the main driver of the global retreat of the glaciers, loss of sea-ice and changes to global surface temperatures since the 1990s, and there is a consensus in the responses from the industry regarding what must be done to combat further, irreversible damage and limit temperature rise to only 1.5oC, but the practicalities need to be addressed in greater detail yet.
Suzanne Wallace of IES noted that although it is possible to decarbonise every building in the world, “the built environment is one area where we know we are inherently adverse to change”, and this was echoed by Laura Mansell-Thomas, Senior Sustainability and M&E Partner at consultancy Ingleton Wood, who said “in the built environment, we have all the technologies we need – not withstanding that better, cheaper ones may be round the corner – but not the knowledge, will or joined-up thinking to put them into place.”
Joel Callow, Director and Passivhaus consultant at QODA Consulting, recognised the challenge but struck a more optimistic tone, saying “while there are many levels of action against climate change… by far the most powerful change is big reductions in CO2 emissions. Thankfully, in the UK construction industry, we already have a skilled and motivated workforce (though further training is urgently needed) and an excellent range of tools and targets to achieve and exceed net zero. It is now a matter of applying them universally and quickly to all projects. Getting the embodied and operational CO2 emissions of all our projects down below zero is the urgent and present challenge of our professional lives.”
Calls for direct and immediate Government action was one major theme in comment from industry, as David Smith of the Energy Networks Association said “Today’s warning is stark. Action must be taken now to address the climate emergency. We urge the government to push forward in publishing the long-awaited Net-Zero, Hydrogen, and Heat and Buildings Strategies”, and Stew Horne of the Energy Saving Trust expanding on this point with “the UK Government must now show real leadership by recommitting to delivering a greener recovery. The UK Government has set some of the most ambitious climate pledges of any major economy in the world.
“The upcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy, Net Zero Strategy and Treasury Spending Review will provide the practical steps to reduce carbon emissions and must ensure a fair and equitable transition to net zero. Greener ways of doing things, which currently feel unobtainable or undesirable for many people, must be made affordable and attractive.”