After hosting an expert panel at the recent Edie Sustainability Leaders Forum, Re_Set’s Hannah Mansour shares her learnings on sustainability in the built environment
Two-thirds of global greenhouse emissions come from the built environment, with the building sector on its own accounting for 37 per cent. With these emissions set to rise as the global population and urbanisation continues to grow, the situation forecast for 2050 looks bleak:
- The global population will reach 9.7 billion
- Two-thirds (68 per cent) of these people will live in urban areas
- 230bn sq.m of new buildings will need to be constructed
- Three-quarters of the required infrastructure will need to be built
- Half of emissions from new buildings will come from embodied sources (emitted during the making of a building), with 50 per cent from operational sources (emitted during its in-use phase).
Striving for sustainability in the built environment – whether that’s ‘greening buildings’ or ‘building green’ – is therefore fundament to tackling our climate crisis.
The transition to a zero-carbon economy won’t be easy. It will require investment, innovation, and partnership across the value chain and across industry to enable market transformation. It will require shifting away from linear ‘take-make-waste’ models to ‘circular’ models that reduce reliance on carbon intensive raw materials.
And it will require us to not think of decarbonisation in isolation but to consider the role of the built environment in connecting communities, reducing inequality, enabling nature to thrive and more to ensure a sustainable future. We saw this during COVID-19, with the positives of neighbourhood volunteer schemes, and the negatives of single-person households experiencing isolation and the huge inequalities between those with and without access to open spaces, ability to connect to the internet and room to live, work and home-school.
“We are seeing a shift away from the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of sustainability to the ‘how'”
The time to act is now
At the recent Edie Sustainability Leaders Forum, I led a workshop about sustainability in the built environment, titled Building for a zero-carbon economy. The panel of experts represented various parts of the industry, and included the group sustainability director at Barratt Developments, the CEO of the World Cement Association, the group climate change director at Costain, and the group sustainability manager at Ibstock.
In our session we shifted our focus away from the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of sustainability for the built environment to the ‘how’. Here are the eight key takeaways from our discussion:
1. Make the old new
Innovation to drive sustainability in the built environment must focus as much on retrofitting existing buildings as it does on design of new buildings. There is a lot of space for entrepreneurs to accelerate this agenda.
2. Shift to circular models
Reducing dependency on carbon-intensive raw materials is key. Making cement, for example, demands high temperatures, consumes substantial amounts of raw materials, and produces serious amounts of carbon dioxide. Exploring different ways to make it, that move away from a take-make-waste production model – such as using waste as alternatives to the clinker needed to bind cement – can reduce the demand for new raw materials.
3. Break it down
All buildings in the future must be designed for longevity through modular designs that can easily be changed as the needs of the population change.
4. Avoid ‘carbon tunnel vision’
Instead of focusing our efforts solely on reducing carbon, there’s a need to consider how the built environment can support a just transition to a net-zero economy. This means enabling communities to thrive and considering how to reduce existing inequalities.
“Collaboration is needed across the value chain and across industries to get the best outcomes from and for everyone”
5. Create new partnerships and collaborations
Collaboration is needed across the value chain and across industries to get the best outcomes from and for everyone. For example, how can we extend the accountability of the designers and builders to take account of their impact downstream? How can we create collective strategies for community building that engages society and ensures the built environment is built to last?
6. Make it easy for the consumer
Green buildings must align with other consumer values such as price, use, location, convenience etc. How can we make it easy for the consumer? Can we price in the cost of carbon (both embodied and operational)? Can we align interests through partnerships to facilitate behaviour change – for example by lowering mortgage rates or insurance rates for greener buildings?
7. Use data wisely
It will be important to use data to create transparency about the embodied carbon and operational carbon efficiency of buildings and materials in the future. Doing so will enable decision-making that supports a more sustainable built environment. Data will also enable more consistency through standards and legislation. This allows for both improved circularity of materials, and for forcing change that will transform what is currently quite a traditional industry.
Hannah is Director of Innovation and Sustainability at Re_Set. To speak to her about the disrupted world and how she can help you navigate it, email her. Read more from Hannah here.
