Climate change is something that affects us each and every day and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Evidence of climate change is all around us as the average global temperature has risen in recent years, ice sheets are melting, the amount of snow in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased, rising sea levels and more.
With buildings and construction responsible for 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions, the time is right to tackle the climate crisis. Additionally, countries worldwide are declaring climate emergencies, while industry awareness and accountability are at all-time highs.
World Green Building Week, which ran from Sept. 21-25, is an annual campaign from the World Green Building Council that unites the global green building community around a single goal. This year’s theme—#ActOnClimate—serves as an urgent call to action for the building sector, policymakers, governments and other stakeholders to deliver net zero buildings. Additionally, the campaign is asking stakeholders to provide a showcase for leaders already taking action to show where, why and how they are achieving it.
The #ActOnClimate campaign is threefold:
- For Communities—net zero buildings support a healthier and more sustainable built environment, creating thriving and resilient communities.
- For the Planet—buildings account for more than one-third of global carbon emissions. It’s vital we prioritize net zero buildings today to protect our planet and future generations.
- Net Zero Buildings for Economies—investing in new and existing net zero buildings today can stimulate innovation, activate supply chains and create jobs.
Over the course of five days, the World Green Building Council network of Green Building Council, along with its partners, showcased examples of global industry leadership, delivering a coordinated and collective voice of the industry to demonstrate the existing leadership in the net zero building movement, while calling for bolder and more ambitious regulation to unlock solutions.
And in case anyone needs a visual reminder of the climate crisis, a climate clock was recently unveiled in New York City. The Metronome on the south side of Union Square is a 15-digit display that shows the years, days, hours, minutes and seconds left to curb greenhouse gas emissions to give Earth a two-thirds chance of staying below 1.5 C of warming, as compared to pre-industrial times, the goal of the international Paris Climate Agreement. It currently reads with just over seven years to meet this goal. Learn more about the climate clock at climateclock.world.
Also, be sure to check out this month’s Constructive Insights article by Alan Scott, “Breathtaking–Integrated Solutions to COVID-19 and the Climate Crisis,” where he looks at addressing pressing issues, such as climate change, with equity, ecology and economics in mind.
While net zero buildings are one way to help combat climate change, we can all do our part to #ActOnClimate for our communities, the planet and for economics.
