NEWS FROM THE FRONT DESK: As a responsible business leader, you will no doubt be tracking the COP27 talks in Egypt.
The first week of the conference featured speeches from many world leaders, but not many concrete commitments to cut emissions faster.
There was a lot of talk around the shared responsibility of climate change – particularly from the Global South which successfully demanded for a “loss and damage” fund to be added to the agenda for the first time.
We are all in the same sinking boat, but some of us are already getting our toes wet.
And some of us have more control over the steering wheel than others.
Such as the built environment industry, which contributes around 40 per cent of emissions and nearly 70 per cent when we look at whole cities.
While the built environment hasn’t previously garnered significant attention at the international climate conference, it did emerge as a major issue this year.
The World Green Building Council, the global network focused on building decarbonisation, hosted a number of events, which you can follow online via the hashtag #BuildingtoCOP27.
There’s increased momentum for discussions around the built environment, as the world begins to realise we simply won’t meet our ambitions without the building sector on board.
- Here’s a round-up of the major commitments at COP27 for the built environment sector: Everything you need to know from COP27
Collaboration, knowledge sharing and investment
Organisations are starting to realise that it will be collaboration, not competition, that gets us across the line.
And that despite – or perhaps because of – the economic downturn, it’s vital to stay the course.
At COP27 the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to exchange knowledge and collaborate on initiatives towards widespread renewable energy adoption to mitigate climate change.
Abdalah Mokssit, IPCC secretary said: “With current commitments, we are not on track to limit warming to 1.5°C. But, with rapid and deeper emissions cuts through 2030, we can keep this goal within reach.”
He said costs for “some forms” of renewables have fallen, use of renewables is on the rise – and some regions are already predominantly powered by renewables.
Meanwhile, Australia’s $6.5 billion government-owned Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) which also attended COP27 announced that the costs of solar and wind energy build outs have surged 20 to 30 per cent because of inflationary pressures and rising interest rates.
Even after the clean energy sector apparently found its feet after a decade of support, CEFC chief executive Ian Learmonth this week told AFR Europe correspondent Hans van Leeuwen that the green bank is having to step in again.
But despite the “difficult market” the corporation is branching out into fields like battery storage, farms, cars and hydrogen.
Investment in renewables after all reaps rewards. In the face of energy volatility worldwide, renewables are the least risky investment.
It might be difficult economic times, but only by helping each other out and exchanging knowledge, and investing in good projects, will we make it through to a greener world.
Shared responsibility and being a good neighbour
At COP27 there was a lot of talk about collective responsibility.
Mostly from developing nations – including our Pacific neighbours – who are the first to be hit by climate impacts and which are hit the hardest.
As the conference finishes up its final week “loss and damage” funding has leapt to the top of political priorities, after more than 130 developing countries successfully demanded it to be added to the agenda for the first time.
Australia is one of the top emitters in the OECD and yet we didn’t yet jump on board for a loss and damage fund at COP27.
Australia seems more motivated to get the kudos of hosting COP31 in 2026, than to really take initiative on the climate challenge.
Australian Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen’s speech at COP27 was criticised for being a “missed opportunity”, both for noncommitment to a fossil fuel phase-out and for not committing to a loss and damage fund.
How can Australia bid to host COP31, while still not taking enough action?
We need to realise that every one of us has an important role to play.
This week the Pacific nation of Tuvalu announced via a digital address to leaders at the conference that the tiny island nation – just 26 sq kms and with a population of 11,925 – plans to replicate a digital twin of itself in the online metaverse as a response to the existential threat of rising sea levels.
Tuvalu’s minister for justice, communication and foreign affairs, Simon Kofe, grabbed headlines at last year’s COP26 when he addressed the conference standing knee-deep in the ocean.
Up to 40 per cent of the capital district is underwater at high tide.
An article published today in The Conversation pointed out that Tuvaluan values are based on olaga fakafenua (communal living systems), kaitasi (shared responsibility) and fale-pili (being a good neighbour).
The article neatly wraps it up: “The message in a bottle being sent out by Tuvalu is not really about the possibilities of metaverse nations at all. The message is clear: to support communal living systems, to take shared responsibility and to be a good neighbour.”
That shared responsibility also sits firmly on the shoulders of the built environment professionals – like you – who do have the responsibility to act.
We are all in the same sinking boat, but some of us are already getting our toes wet.
And some of us have more control over the steering wheel than others.
Every fraction of a degree counts
At COP27 the built environment is certainly a hot topic – but not as hot as our world is getting.
Scientists now warn that 1.5C is no longer achievable: the world will overshoot this threshold that nearly 200 nations have shaped their climate plans around.
As of last month, there is “no credible path” to 1.5C, a 27 October report from the UN Environment Programme warns.
The report revealed that if we adhere to our current policies, we are on a path to about 2.8C of warming by the end of the century. Even if nations meet more ambitious timelines proposed, temperatures would still rise by about 1.8 degrees.
Let’s pause for a moment.
Even if we meet 1.8 degrees, that is not an insignificant number.
Every fraction of a degree counts, according to UN experts.
This isn’t to alarm you. But to light a fire under you.
We need more than just hot air – before things get even hotter.
We are all in this together.