einsidetrack : Building Construction News - CLIMATE CHANGE: All roads lead to Copenhagen

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 9, 2009 -- Since 1972, the world's leaders have met every 10 years to address the state of the world's environment, and the impacts of development. Since the Brundtland Commission formalised the term in its 1987 report, this issue is known as "sustainable development".

The debate has moved on to the wider issues, dominated by global warming and climate change. The overwhelming majority of the world's governments believe that climate change poses a threat to our planet and, consequently, to our very existence. The problem has been the practical implementation.

So why is a new treaty needed? The Copenhagen talks sit within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), established at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. In 1997, the UNFCCC spawned the Kyoto Protocol. But neither of these agreements can curb the growth in greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently to avoid the climate impacts projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

In particular, the Kyoto Protocol's targets for reducing emissions apply only to a small set of countries and expire in 2012. So Governments want a new treaty that is more radical, wider-ranging and more sophisticated than the Kyoto agreement.

In June, the G8 and a number of large developing countries agreed that the average temperature rise since pre-industrial times should be limited to 2 deg C. In principle, they are looking to the Copenhagen treaty to curb the growth in greenhouse gas emissions enough to keep the world within that limit.

The debates and the meetings seem to have gone on for a long time, with a lot of people ending up very frustrated at the perceived lack of real action. A lot more is needed than polite talk and fudged compromises. Irrespective of whatever happens with the details agreed at this conference, the implications for our industry are really profound. As we know, real meaningful action will have to follow any agreed treaty.

This time I think it will and I believe radical measures are imperative if we are to secure a viable future of our planet and the conditions that support life as we know it. This will require a major shift in the mind-set of people and the priorities of governments. The educational and awareness role will be enormous. Our industry has such a vital role to play in this and it will need significant investment.

Paradoxically, the costs of avoiding or delaying the actions required to ensure a sustainable future will be more of an investment than an expense. Most will occur at the front end of the process of a transition to a low carbon economy in which a more efficient economy will produce more opportunities and benefits than the current wasteful model, the world has followed.

Energy is at the core of this transition. Our wasteful use of energy must be brought under control; the transition from the fossil fuels era must be accelerated and their emissions of greenhouse gases substantially reduced in the meantime. This is wholly feasible and our industry will play a major part in this process. Buildings account for half of all CO2 emissions, and to truly tackle the current waste and inefficiencies the Government will have to accelerate the mechanisms to encourage energy efficiency. This will be done by the usual carrot and stick. One of the big sticks will be the Carbon Reduction Commitment (see my previous article BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY: Why the Carbon Reduction Commitment is good news for you)

The emphasis will need to be on our existing buildings. Retrofit, refurbishment and continuous commissioning will all feature. I see the move to intelligent buildings driving a lot of our work forward, lowering operating costs and creating a better working environment. Everyone will win and it has already started.



Yes, a lot of hot air will be generated in Copenhagen, but I am optimistic that we will see some positive drivers to start to make some really meaningful changes from which we will all benefit.

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