by Nigel Tonks, Director, WLC Transformation Lead, Arup UKIMEA
Nigel Tonks
The climate crisis is, now more than ever, a crucial challenge for every sector and industry on the planet – and the built environment is no exception. Accounting for 37% of the world’s carbon emissions, the building sector must make drastic changes if we are to stand a chance at meeting our UN 2030 goals. Action must be taken now to comprehensively drive down the sector’s emissions.
The technology and knowledge needed to do this is already present. We know how to improve building performance, insulate buildings, swap carbon-hungry heaters with electric replacements, reduce embodied carbon and reduce the size of the footprint of the grid. However, for these steps to be effective, we must conduct change at a large enough scale, and faster than ever before. The effective measurement of carbon is an essential catalyst to accelerate and develop these strategies.
The need to define net zero
As climate change continues to dominate the business agenda, more and more sectors are committing to reducing their carbon footprint. While the building industry is making impressive commitments, we will only be able to make real ground once we agree on what a ‘net-zero building’ is, and subsequently build a consistent methodology to track our progress. Without a clear definition, reporting will be less effective and more inconsistent, causing a subsequent lack of accurate and achievable goals being set.
At face value, an operationally net zero building could be defined as one not connected to fossil fuel energy sources, low upfront and life cycle embodied carbon, while also possessing high energy efficiency supported by 100% on-site or additional off-site clean energy, and where unavoidable residual emissions are offset by long term carbon removal.
Despite their complexities, each parameter is readily quantifiable. However, the estimated total of new construction that has presently accounted for this is less than 1%. This is at a time when it is estimated that each week humanity adds to the built environment an area equivalent to a city the size of Paris.
A unified global definition for net zero buildings is crucial for underpinning measurement, and transparent reporting, and providing clarity to the market that will generate real value from climate-adapted assets.
Once these definitions are agreed upon globally, national and local governments can refine their policies and standards to shift the industry towards net zero. Businesses will be given achievable targets to work towards, providing real value for the future.
London Skyline © Paul Carstairs_Arup
International collaboration
As it stands, over 100 countries lack building energy regulation. Only through international collaboration will this shift to meet the global transformation required. The urgency of this shift cannot be overstated, with the recent 2023 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction telling us that building emissions are behind where they need to be and continue to grow.
However, there are many reasons to be optimistic. Considerable progress was made this year at the Paris Building and Climate Forum, where over 60 countries signed the Declaration of Chaillot. This agreement aims to introduce roadmaps, regulatory frameworks and mandatory building and energy codes. With these internationally agreed-upon standards in place, countries could implement ambitious policies, unlock funding and support much-needed research in the sector.
Cross-sector collaboration
While regulation is a crucial part of the puzzle, it cannot solve the climate crisis in isolation. It takes considerable time for regulation to move into implementation. And for the buildings industry, there is no time to sit around and wait; urgent industry action is needed. We must not let the lack of standards be a barrier to the decarbonisation of the market.
One critical step will be to measure whole life carbon for all our development work and set realistic target reductions. To this end, Arup has been developing a dataset of whole-life carbon emissions from 1,000 projects across 30 nations and 5 continents. The research highlights the requirement of granular data on building function, size, location, materials and systems. Sharing such data and insights across our industry ensures that we can work together towards net zero goals.
The big picture
It is important, however, that we do not become hyper-focused on net zero in isolation. Part of future-proofing buildings is making structures resistant to flooding, extreme temperatures and other conditions associated with a changing climate. We must also keep sight of poorer communities, and the eighth of the human population that live in informal settlements, who are often those most impacted by climate change. A transition to net-zero must be just and equitable.
By standardising our measurement of carbon in the built environment, working together across borders and sectors, the built environment can reach its goal of both lowering emissions and resilience to extreme weather events. We have the tools and knowledge to make this change already at our disposal – now is the time to act.
