Climate change and the built environment: Key takeaways from COP26

Sector Development Director Built Environment, Americas

Article published 26 January 2022

A few weeks on from COP26, what were the key takeaways from discussions around sustainability and the built environment?

In this series of blogs, we will discuss why climate change is such an important issue in the built environment, unpack some of the new alliances, agreements and initiatives, what they mean for the sector, and what comes next. 

11th November 2021 saw the first Cities, Regions and Built Environment day at COP, after campaigners from The World Green Building Council and nine other international organizations stressed the importance of dedicating a full day to the sector. 

With the built environment accounting for almost 40 per cent of global energy and process-related emissions, global leaders highlighted the need for the sector’s diverse stakeholders to come together to drive change across policy, finance and industry. While the official COP26 talks and binding agreements are important, the tangible action to meet these agreements will come from the implementation. This will require a collaborative effort that includes both the public and private sectors.

From whole life carbon to net zero buildings - we’ve broken down some of the key outcomes and new alliances that came out of Built Environment day at COP26. 

COP26 saw more countries sign up to whole life carbon requirements as part of The World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.

The signatories have committed to the following by 2030:

• Reduce operational emissions of new and existing buildings and built assets
• Remove fossil fuels as fast as possible
• Power new developments and major renovations by renewables and achieve maximum reductions in embodied carbon 
• Compensate for any residual emissions where necessary
• Advocate for wider emission reductions through business activities
• Report on impact

This ‘reduction first’ approach targets both operational and embodied carbon emissions and signifies a step in the right direction for leading organizations to set out the blueprint for faster decarbonization. 

A total of 122 businesses, 28 cities and 6 states and regions have now signed up.

Alongside COP26, the UK Green Buildings Council launched their Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap for the Built Environment. Created in collaboration with over 100 organizations, the roadmap sets out recommended actions to achieve zero carbon in construction, operations and demolition.

The roadmap includes:

• A carbon footprint for the UK built environment
• A net zero carbon trajectory
• Information on how much emissions reductions need to be made in order to achieve net zero by 2050
• Policy recommendations
• Action plans for industry

The roadmap’s aim is to help operationalize this movement by translating concepts into actionable next steps for businesses and industry.

On Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day, it was confirmed that 1,049 cities and local governments are now participating in Race to Zero, representing over 722 million people. Race to Zero is a global campaign to gather support and leadership from businesses, cities and investors in order to unlock sustainable growth and enable a zero carbon recovery.

109 regions, cities and states have also signed up to Race to Resilience, which puts people and nature first in a global ambition to build the resilience of 4 billion people by 2030. The campaign asks cities to pledge to transform urban slums, help smallholder farmers thrive and protect coastal homes and buildings against climate shocks.

One of the newest members is Maharashtra in India, where more than 124 million people live.

During COP26, 68 states, regional and city governments signed up to a range of cross-sector actions ahead of 2030 to decrease emissions, increase climate resilience and protect biodiversity as part of the Under 2 Coalition. This Coalition is formed of a global community of governments committed to climate action. Governments from the Under 2 Coalition, U.S. Climate Alliance and C40 acknowledged the need to focus on short term measures to maintain global temperature targets.