With so much talk about increasing renewable energy capacity and the role that hydrogen could play as part of the future energy mix, you’d be forgiven for sometimes thinking that there’s been a loss of mainstream focus on simply making buildings more efficient. And by ‘efficient’ we mean both energy efficient, and efficient in terms of resource use.
For the built environment to play its part in protecting people from the worst impacts of climate change, it’s absolutely essential that we achieve high quality buildings that deliver long-term performance – something that this article from ArchDaily summarises neatly.
A lot of businesses and organisations still talk about using offsetting to address some of their carbon emissions, but it remains a controversial topic. The potential lack of effectiveness of carbon offsetting has been thrown into sharp relief around the world, as forests that are part of offsetting programmes have caught fire as a result of the increased frequency of extreme weather and climate events.
That’s not to say that some carbon offsetting programmes can’t and don’t work. There needs to be more clarity about what programmes actually deliver, however – which is exactly what this integrity initiative aims to provide.
The pace of change in this area remains rapid, and as ever it will be interesting to see how the construction industry adapts its behaviour in response to wider societal change. Equally, the built environment has a significant role to play in demonstrating that net zero can be achieved while keeping the need for offsetting to a minimum.