In support of COP21’s first ‘Buildings Day’, Skanska joins the UK Green Building Council and other leading UK businesses in making a corporate commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment
COP21, the United Nations global climate change conference opened in Paris this week and is expected to attract in the region of 50,000 participants, including 151 world leaders.
This year’s conference is crucial because the expected outcome is a new international agreement on climate change to keep global warming below 2°C – with the construction industry having a key role to play in achieving it.
The first ever ‘Buildings Day’ is taking place today (3rd December 2015) and is a dedicated event at COP21 to present how the building and construction sector is able to tackle climate change. The day will result in the launch of the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, an alliance of primarily international organisations, committed to:
- Helping to put the buildings and construction sector on the ‘below 2°C path’
- Aligning existing initiatives, commitments and programmes to achieve greater scale and increase the pace of efficiency actions
- Catalysing stronger collaboration and targeting sectoral and cross-sectoral climate action and solutions for all
In support of Buildings Day, the UK Green Building Council has encouraged its members to issue their own ‘climate pledge’, detailing how they intend to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the ‘below 2°C’ pathway. Skanska has pledged:
"Through our Journey to Deep Green™ we will target net zero energy buildings, near zero carbon construction and the mitigation of other environmental impacts. We are committed to using the World Green Building Council's Metrics Framework to measure Health, Wellbeing and Productivity benefits to demonstrate that green buildings are mutually beneficial to people, business and the environment."
Skanska UK Director of Environment, Adam Crossley said:
“It is widely recognised that global warming in excess of 2°C would have serious consequences on the planet. Our Journey to Deep Green™ has put climate and resource considerations at the heart of our business planning since 2010. Our climate pledge reinforces this message.
“We are excited about the potential outcome of the COP21 negotiations which could be a vital turning point in the global battle against climate change.”