Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, has urged all businesses, entities and cities in the UAE to formally endorse and sign the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment
Announced globally by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment encourages businesses and organisations to take advanced climate action to eliminate carbon emissions from their building portfolios by 2030 and to advocate for all buildings to be Net Zero in operation by 2050.
These targets are set to meet the Paris Agreement ambition of below two degrees of global warming. This month, 19 global cities, representing 130mn urban citizens, committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by ensuring that new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030.
The commitment is set to generate the next wave of high momentum to cut down global greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and inspire national governments to step up national climate action plans over the next two years. More cities, states and regions are expected to commit to enacting regulations or planning policy to drive construction of new buildings operating at net zero carbon from 2030 and enable all existing buildings to operate at net zero carbon by 2050.
Saeed Al Abbar, chairman of EmiratesGBC, said, ?We need to achieve tangible results and the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment is a unique opportunity to ambitiously work toward reducing energy demand and controlling carbon emissions. This calls for the concerted efforts of all ? governments, businesses, civil society organisations and the public at large ? to achieve the significant milestone that will be our true investment in the future for our upcoming generations.?
?Majid Al Futtaim, who is active board members of EmiratesGBC, is among the first three organisations globally to sign up the commitment, thus demonstrating the UAE?s global leadership in sustainable development,? Al Abbar added.
The commitment will be formally launched at the Global Climate Action Summit taking place in San Francisco from 12-14 September 2018, where states and regions, cities, businesses, investors and civil society are committing to taking ambition to the next level.
In order to ensure tangible results, signatories are required to track, verify and report publicly on building performance metrics with a focus on energy use and associated emissions. These leaders will also advocate through their core business activities for all suppliers and partners across their supply chain to follow their own commitment to drastically reduce emissions.
Energy efficiency is set to dramatically reduce the world?s energy needs, enabling a much faster transition to the renewables which will help cut down fossil fuel energy production sooner. Globally, energy efficiency measures could contribute a 48 per cent reduction of global emissions by 2030, with 43 per cent of those coming from buildings according to the International Energy Agency.
Addressing this, EmiratesGBC?s seventh annual Congress on 9 October 2018 will focus on Net Zero and will be held under the theme ?Targeting Zero: A Vision for Future Cities.? The congress will mark a regional first with an in-depth discussion on the Net Zero Energy Building movement as well as to continue to advocate for the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment as a significant step to create net zero cities.
