The recent report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, is not a happy read.
The IPCC report provides new estimates of the chances of crossing the crucial global warming level of 1.5Ā°C in the coming decades. It finds that āunless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5Ā°C or even 2Ā°C will be beyond reach.ā A 1.5Ā°C increase in global warming is believed to be the point at which climate change would be irreversible. To quote the reportās chief author, Joeri Roejl, PhD, āThe greater weight of evidence has confirmed the trend, as expected, and itās not really good news.ā
As youāve heard many times, existing and new-construction buildings and homes are the biggest source of global carbon emissions: 39%ā28% for operations (heating and cooling, lighting, etc.), 11% for building materials and construction. (āIndustryā contributes 32%; ātransportation,ā 23%.) Clearly, the building sector plays the leading role in this global drama.
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SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE, CIRCA 2003
At Building Design+Construction, weāve been writing about ways AEC professionals and building product manufacturers have improved energy and water efficiency in buildings since well before the scientific community had firmly established humankindās role in climate change.
In 2003, as the U.S. Green Building Council and its powerful new green building certification system, LEED, were ramping up, we published our āWhite Paper on Sustainability,ā the first in-depth investigation of the fast-emerging green building movement, and followed it up in 2004 with a āProgress Report on Sustainability.ā
Each of these reports offered specific recommendations for action, such as ālaunch a pilot program in 10 large public school districts to measure the impact of green schools on student achievement and health,ā and named the parties who should be responsible for carrying out these measures (in this case, six schools organizations and governmentĀ entities) and "promote a national program to reduce construction and demolition waste by 50% in five years"Ā (progressive GC firms would be hitting 90-95% C+D waste reduction in very short order).
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BD+C PUBLISHES āGREEN BUILDINGS + CLIMATE CHANGEā WHITE PAPER
In 2008, we published our most ambitious white paper, a 40,000-word, 64-page report, āGreen Buildings + Climate Change,ā which spelled out 22 practical steps that design and construction firms could take to flatten the GHG growth curve.
Some of our recommendations were fairly easy for the AEC community to undertake; for example, AEC firms should āfit out your own office to reduce GHG emissionsāāa practical step many AEC firms have taken in the interim, often at the LEED Platinum level.
Other recommendations had more bite and required considerably greater investment of time, money, and thinking byĀ larger and more extensive constituencies:
- āGive much greater attention to special threats to waterfront developments and buildings in severe-weather zonesāāas evidenced by 2012ās Superstorm Sandy and, recently, more frequent and powerful superstorms and hurricanes.
- āCities and counties should plug the leaks in the 72,000 miles of water pipes and sewer mainsā that were 80 years old or more at that time (sounds like an early call for an infrastructure program, doesnāt it?)
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ENCOURAGING THE USE OF SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS
Two recommendations from the 2008 report merit further consideration today.
The first advised AEC firms to āwork with your clients to encourage them to use the most energy-efficient products and systems in their [building] projects.ā
Since the early days of LEED, we have seen the proliferation of certification programs for building productsāGreenguard, Greenseal, Cradle to Cradle, FSC and SFI (for wood), Red List Free, etc. There are now more than 50 certification programs for building products, buildings, homes, whole neighborhoods, sites, parking structures, schools, and more.
The second recommendation from 2008 encouraged AEC firms to āleverage your supply chain to achieve GHG reductions.ā We noted that Turner Construction, the largest building contractor in the U.S. (currently, $14 billion/year in construction), purchases many building products and equipment in high volume to achieve dollar savings for its clients.
We recommended that āgiant GCsā like Turnerāas well as states, counties, and citiesātake this tool one step further and use their purchasing power to āencourage (or require) suppliers to post the carbon emissions of their products and systems online or in their purchase orders.ā Many suppliers are doing that in one form or other, via environmental or health product declarations) or via so-called ESG (environmental, social, and governance) impact reports.
Recommendations like these from 13 years ago may seem modest in the context of the current climate crisis, but they were fairly radical at the time and often drew criticism from some in the AEC world who denied that human activity had any role in climate change.
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AECO FIRMS TAKING ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Today, there is a burning desire among progressive architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as well as among forward-thinking real estate development companies, to address climate change. Ā
Eight hundred architecture irms have signed on to the AIA 2030 Commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in their building projects by 2030. The Carbon Leadership Forum is shedding light on the embodied carbon content of building materials and products. The ILFIās Living Building Challenge 4.0 is pushing AEC firms higher and higher in terms of sustainable design, especially regarding materials.
Just 10 years ago, net-zero buildings were thought to be impossible to achieve. (See āZero + Net-Zero Energy Buildings + Homes,ā March 2011.) Today, net-positive buildings ā those that make more energy than they use ā are being built.
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LATEST CONCERN: CUTTING JOB-SITE CARBON EMISSIONS
This past July, AGC of America formed a Climate Change Task Force to hone in on āthe top impacts associated with climate change for construction markets and construction firms.ā
Among the task force members are The Beck Group, Clark Construction Group, Linbeck Group, McCarthy Holdings, and Swinerton.
One of the ādiscussion pointsā that the AGC Task Force plans to undertake is to āengage with equipment manufacturers to improve energy efficiency and emissions performance without sacrificing safety or power output.ā
āConstruction activityā accounts for less than 2% of global GHG emissions, but thatās not stopping the nationās major contractors from pushing construction equipment manufacturers and suppliers to slash carbon emissions on the job site. One sustainability director told me that their firm was committed to cutting on-site GHG emissions by 50% by the end of this decade.
In Northern California, a coalition of GCs called the Bay Area Sustainable Construction Leaders is asking equipment manufacturers and rental companies what theyāre doing to electrify their fleets. All the major equipment makers, from CaterpillarĀ to Volvo, know they have to electrify as quickly as possible. Ford hasĀ introducedĀ the all-electric F-150 Lightning work truck. Sunbelt Rentals has issued a āSustainability Plan 2030ā that aligns with eight of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Itās a movement that would have been unheard of 10 years ago,
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āSUSTAINABILITYā NOW ALSO MEANS āWELLNESSā AND āRESILIENCEā
These days, āsustainabilityā is much more than energy savings (although saving energy remains crucial to reducing carbon emissions). Protecting the health and wellness of building occupants, visitors, and staff has become a huge component of sustainability, especially in light of the Covid pandemic. Programs like WELL Certified and Fitwel Ambassadors are addressing AECO professionalsā concerns about healthy buildings, just as the RELi standard is taking on building resilience. The climate change landscape is getting wider and deeper than ever.
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NEW āPROCONNECTā PROGRAM ADDRESSES SUSTAINABILITY
This year, in response to the rapidly developing global warming landscape, Building Design+Construction and our parent company, SGC Horizon, have introduced ProCONNECT Sustainability | Wellness | Resilience (Nov 2-3, 2021, 11am to 4:25pm ET).
ProCONNECT Sustainability gives AEC Professionals and Developers with responsibility for high-performance buildings ā Chief Sustainability Officers, Directors of Sustainability, LEED Fellows, LFAs, WELL APs, resilience directors, net-zero building experts, and other āclimate-action championsā ā the opportunity to meet one-on-one with top product manufacturers to discuss their firmsā climate-action, wellness, and resilience agendas and discover practical solutions that can enhance their firmsā high-performance projects.
More than 40 AEC firms, developers, and consultants have committed to participating in ProCONNECT Sustainability. There is no charge for Attendees. To learn more, click here.
Building product manufacturers and suppliers who would like more information about sponsoring ProCONNECT Sustainability can contact: Dan Gardner, dgardner@sgcmail.com, 989.860.7930, or click here.
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