Climate change report: Building sector can do better

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group and Arup have just released their Potential for Climate Action report identifying over 2,000 actions which have the potential to reduce emissions, of which 66 percent are in the building sector.

Of the many fascinating findings is a meta-analysis of the challenges faced by cities, the report dealing with breaking down the blockages to addressing climate change.

In public discourse, businesses and politicians generally push the scientific-messiah solution (‘technology will save us’), but according to the report, 20 percent of the resistances to addressing issues of climate change are political and leadership issues, and 17 percent are institutional, regulatory and legislative challenges.

The good news is that the “research confirms that city mayors have plans to expand more than 75% of the climate actions that are already in place, demonstrating their commitment to continue driving change. This is a tremendous increase from 45% in 2011.” Cities are moving the agenda and the actions forward.

The good and bad news is that “on a proportional basis Buildings is still a sector with below average action uptake.” So if we pull our finger out, the Building sector can make a serious difference.

To download the report from Arup click here