The Climate Crisis Challenge, launched in collaboration with the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) last month, has got the whole industry talking.
UKGBC chief executive Julie Hirigoyen’s leader column on the radical change needed to slash carbon emissions generated enormous traction on Twitter and LinkedIn. We have also received countless emails and messages of support from senior industry leaders pledging their commitment to the cause – and we’re just getting started.
This week, Argent, Mishcon de Reya and Savills signed up as our campaign partners. Their support will help us deliver regular climate-crisis-focused analysis and thought leadership in the run-up to the COP26 UN climate change summit in Glasgow in November. With their backing, we will put pressure on the industry to #BeTheSolution.
Complete the Climate Crisis perceptions Survey, here:
By COP26, we hope businesses will be taking robust action to address the climate crisis, including: signing up to the WorldGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment and disclosing energy performance for all buildings they control; publishing a carbon reduction target for their scope 3 (customer and supply chain) emissions; evaluating the physical and financial risk of climate change to their business; investing in the training and upskilling of staff on ESG and sustainability; and advocating for stronger policy frameworks for energy-efficient buildings and operational energy ratings.
First, though, we are calling on the industry to take part in our Climate Crisis Perceptions Survey. The aim of our survey is to assess how much industry attitudes have changed towards the climate crisis and how much they still need to change.
The questions tackle what Property Week and UKGBC recognise as some of the biggest roadblocks to solving the crisis.
“This survey is designed to gauge property professionals’ perception of the climate crisis and how it relates to them,” says Alastair Mant, head of business transformation at UKGBC.
“We’re looking at it from industry-wide and organisational perspectives, as well as homing in on the role of the professional. What will be interesting is the relationship between these. How well aligned are companies with the values of their employees? Do individual professionals see a role for themselves in helping the industry tackle the climate crisis?”
We know the industry is waking up to the climate crisis. Architects are designing low-carbon buildings, developers are starting to build them and investors are beginning to invest in them.
Is your business doing enough to tackle the #climatecrisis?
— PropertyWeek (@PropertyWeek) January 31, 2020
As encouraging as these steps are, a handful of exemplary schemes will not do much to reduce or eliminate the 40% of carbon emissions that the built environment is responsible for. This is why we want to establish how much industry buy-in there really is.
We want to know if the property industry thinks it is doing enough and, if not, how much more it should be doing.
If our survey poll published two weeks ago is anything to go by, the industry has a long way to go. Only 23.9% of respondents felt like their business was doing enough to tackle the crisis, while 56.5% said that more needed to be done and 19.6% said it wasn’t a priority.
Our hope is that the Climate Crisis Perceptions Survey gives us a clearer picture of current attitudes and how they need to change if the industry is to truly rise to The Climate Crisis Challenge. So please take part and help the industry #BeTheSolution #PWclimate.
Complete the Climate Crisis perceptions Survey, here:
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