EDITOR’S COMMENT Both the RICS president elect and the UKGBC chief executive made rallying calls to the industry this week as time continues to run out for our planet. There is no more time for pats on backs for getting the latest certification on your buildings and there is certainly no more time to kick the can down the road.
Whether you are a big developer or landlord or a small one, now is the time to get serious about the impact the built environment is having on the world in which we live. Now is the time for action, whether you can afford it or not. Because the truth is that you really can’t afford not to act, and act now.
Tina Paillet, president elect at the RICS, cuts straight to the point in the institution’s latest Global Sustainability Report. Despite all the rhetoric, the industry is still largely reluctant to pursue a low-carbon future, says the report. Instead, it is more interested in the esteem offered by building certifications and remains more focused on profit than principles.
“This focus on profit over principles is increasingly out of step with the commitments of other sectors, governments and societies,” writes Paillet. “If we do not volunteer to do more and faster, we may find ourselves forced to, with less choice about the steps we take.”
Smith Mordak, the recently installed new chief executive at the UK Green Building Council, adds to the disappointment in the built environment.
Mordak says the built environment needs to decarbonise twice as fast as it is currently doing and that it is “significantly off-track” from the trajectory required to meet the UK’s national net zero commitments.
The UKGBC report reveals that carbon emissions from the UK built environment fell by 13% between 2018 and 2022, which is well below the 19% reduction required to meet the UK’s net zero pathway. In real terms, the shortfall represents 11m tonnes of carbon emissions, equivalent to the annual polluting output of 6.5m cars.
The UKGBC says “such insufficient progress” means that the built environment now has to decarbonise nearly twice as fast over the next two years to achieve targeted emissions cuts.
Without real action, without real investment and proper collaboration across the built environment – property owners and occupiers working together, those that “get it” helping those that don’t, those that can “afford” it, helping those that can’t – we will all lose.
There will be no built environment. There will be no profit to take. There will be no space to lease, no returns to chase. If we don’t act now – together – buildings will be under water (figuratively and literally), drought and wildfires will devastate, more pandemics will come and eventually, if we don’t act, there will be nothing left. Not you, not me, not your clients, no one.
It’s easy to understand the why behind the inaction across wide parts of the built environment. So many of our buildings are not owned by big developers or managed by giant pension funds. So much of our sector is run by SMEs that are fighting in this really tough environment to do just the day-to-day of the business of real estate and when occupiers are demanding green buildings but refusing to pay for them, firmly placing the “problem” at landlords’ front doors, it is really easy to understand why so many still see sustainability as a stick to beat them with.
And that is exactly why this industry needs to come together properly. Maybe just on this one thing. Don’t individually try to be the best. Be the best industry. If you don’t know where to start or why to care, ask. If you do have the tools to make things better, share.
I understand entirely the purpose of profit. We need it to do good things. But right now, if this industry doesn’t put the principles of saving our planet first, that profit will be relatively short-lived. And so too will the wonderful built environment, the amazing cities, the spaces and the places that you have all put so much care, effort and capital into creating.
It’s time to get back on track and do so at double speed, together.
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