Mark Vender
A coalition of 25 major building industry organisations has issued a statement at COP27 pledging to assume a leadership role in decarbonisation efforts in the built environment.
The statement, the Building Industry Steps Up to Address Climate Change, is addressed to government representatives that are parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changes (UNFCCC), and expresses a collective commitment to meeting 1.5°C Paris Agreement targets.
Signatories include ASHRAE, the US Green Building Council (USGBC), the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR) and AIRAH.
In a video session at COP27, 2022–23 ASHRAE President Farooq Mehboob presented a roadmap for addressing climate change. During his presentation, he quoted from the statement.
“The buildings that we live and work in are responsible for approximately 40 per cent of total global direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mehboob. “The built environment is therefore one of the leading drivers of climate change.
“Simultaneously, making changes to how and what we build is one of our most effective tools for mitigating and adapting to climate change and places a great responsibility on the built environment industry. This is a responsibility we earnestly accept.”
USGBC President Peter Templeton agreed that collaboration across the building industry is critical to enable and accelerate progress on climate goals.
“This shared statement communicates to engineers around the globe that their work matters,” said Templeton, “and our collective commitment to leadership in decarbonising the built environment engages them in the global effort to address the devastating impacts of climate change.
“USGBC is pleased to work with ASHRAE and other partner organisations to support the many engineers and building professionals on the front lines, making the case to their clients to push their designs to go further to decarbonise.”
To read the full statement “Building industry steps up to address climate change”, click here.
Photo by zhang kaiyv: https://www.pexels.com/photo/high-rise-buildings-1139556/
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