World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) welcomes businesses, including Brunswick Property Partners, Joseph Homes and Varming Consulting Engineers Limited, to the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.
Since COP26, 22 new and existing businesses and organisation signatories have demonstrated their climate leadership and dedication to decarbonising the built environment by signing up to the updated Commitment. The Commitment now has a total of 171 signatories, which includes 136 businesses and organisations, 29 cities, and six states and regions. The businesses and organisations signed up to the Commitment now account for approximately 7.3 million (tCO2e) of portfolio emissions annually, nearly 20,000 assets and $400 billion annual turnover.
Business signatories are committed to reducing and compensating all operational emissions for assets over which they have direct control. As part of the updated Commitment, they will also maximise embodied carbon emissions reductions for new developments and major renovations by 2030, compensating for any remaining residual upfront embodied carbon emissions as part of a whole lifecycle approach.
At COP26, the UN High Level Climate Champions Race To Zero announced the 2030 Breakthrough Agenda. Launched by 45 world leaders, it is a commitment to work together this decade to accelerate innovation and deployment of clean technologies, making them accessible and affordable for all this decade. To kick start this Agenda, countries endorsed Breakthrough goals to make clean technologies and sustainable practices more affordable, accessible and attractive than their alternatives by 2030.
Ahead of COP27, UN High Level Climate Champions team announced the Breakthrough goals for Human Settlements. The built environment goals states that ‘All new projects completed from 2030, are net zero carbon in operation, with >40 per cent reduction in embodied carbon’.
The Commitment is now recognised as a Delivery Partner and Breakthrough Initiative for the UN High Level Climate Champions Race To Zero campaign and the Built Environment 2030 Breakthrough Agenda. Commitment signatories are therefore frontrunners in the Race to Zero, taking accelerated action by 2030, contributing to achieving the built environment sector breakthrough goals.
Commitment signatories are going further and faster to tackle operational and embodied emissions from their real estate assets, stimulating the innovative approaches, solutions and business models necessary for the entire sector to reach 2050 goals.
Cristina Gamboa, CEO of the WorldGBC welcomed new and existing signatories stepping up to join the updated Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment that accounts for the whole life carbon of buildings.
“In the lead up to and in the aftermath of COP27, we have seen industry leaders send strong signals to market about the urgency and strong ‘business sense’ to mainstream net zero carbon buildings, and accelerate solutions within a local, regional and global context to achieve carbon neutrality. Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment signatories are at the forefront, spearheading industry transformation and the decarbonisation of our built environment.”