Today, the Better Buildings Partnership is publishing the BBP Members Climate Commitment. Signed by 23 property owners with more than £300bn of assets under management covering in excess of 11,000 buildings, this is big.
In March, at a dinner attended by chief executives, chief information officers and directors of some of the UK’s leading property owners, eminent climate scientist Professor Chris Rapley presented the latest scientific evidence outlining the extent and frightening pace of climate change, reaffirming the risks to businesses and, more specifically, the impacts on property portfolios.
An initial stunned silence quickly developed into discussions with a palpable sense of urgency. The incremental improvements many property owners had found reassuring were beginning to feel somewhat inadequate. The pace and scale of the challenge required something more significant.
An initial stunned silence quickly developed into discussions with a palpable sense of urgency. The incremental improvements many property owners had found reassuring were beginning to feel somewhat inadequate
It is against this backdrop that the BBP was tasked with developing a climate commitment in collaboration with its members. The brief from our BBP members was that this must follow the scientific logic that, if we are to keep within the 1.5C warming recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, then buildings must be net zero carbon by 2050. They also asked for the commitment to be meaningful and genuinely impactful; mixing ambition with pragmatism; acknowledging the challenges that exist within the sector; and, quite simply, the fact that we don’t know all the answers – yet.
Fast forward six months and the BBP is launching this Climate Commitment in time for World Green Building Week 2019.
Reporting net zero carbon pathways
A key remit of the commitment requires signatories to publish their own net zero carbon pathways in 2020. While this is an immediate short-term target, it is not an inconsiderable task.
The pathways will address:
• New and existing buildings. Let’s just remind ourselves that 80% of the buildings we will need in 2050 already exist. As well as ensuring that new buildings deliver on their promises, we must capitalise on the potential to improve existing buildings (BBP members have reduced the carbon intensity of their portfolios by 26% over the past six years).
• Both operational and embodied carbon. Embodied carbon can range from 30-50% of carbon emissions over a building’s lifecycle, so as well as focusing on energy efficiency in operation, net zero must also incorporate the carbon association with the development, refurbishment, maintenance and disposal of assets.
• The ‘whole’ building. This is ground-breaking because it focuses on the need to engage with occupiers. Evidence from our members suggests that Scope 3 emissions (those associated with occupiers’ energy consumption) can account for as much as 70% of a building’s carbon footprint.
The commitment has a critical thread of transparency running throughout, with signatories reporting on their progress and the performance of their assets. This will drive the leaders to compete, let the rest of the industry know the art of the possible and let the government know how, where and when to legislate. Signatories will adopt a “comply or explain” approach; the intention is that the commitment should cover as many assets as possible, not just the few where it is easy to do so.
Achieving the target
Is net zero by 2050 soon enough? This is where a heavy dose of pragmatism comes in. Of course, net zero for directly managed assets and landlord-controlled emissions must be earlier than this. Many of our BBP members have already set themselves targets to achieve net zero for these assets, some by 2030 and most well in advance of 2050. However, where investment mandates have already been agreed, ownership is complex, leases signed (some on a 25-year, fully repairing and insuring basis), occupiers have moved in and management outsourced, it’s not quite so straightforward. Here is where we confess that our members simply don’t know how net zero will be delivered across ALL of their assets. Their net zero carbon pathways will help to provide clarity and, we hope, demonstrate that many assets will target net zero carbon well ahead of the 2050 “hard stop”.
Property owners are the upstream decision-makers – the standards they adopt drive the industry, but they do not deliver buildings on their own. Importantly, the commitment sends a clear message to investors, the supply chain, industry and professional bodies calling for them to step up to the challenge and collaborate to help deliver net zero buildings.
The BBP’s commitment
For our part, we will be supporting our members to fulfil these commitments and sharing this work with the wider industry. This is not something we, or our members, can deliver in isolation. This is a collective commitment to demonstrate leadership, to help drive the industry to deliver net zero carbon buildings, to encourage innovation and to protect and enhance the value of real estate assets, now and for the uncertain future we face.
As we launch this commitment on behalf of our members, the overwhelming feelings I have are not despair, but urgency and opportunity. We must act urgently; we have a brief window to change course.
While buildings are responsible for 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions, these assets are not fundamentally unsustainable. Buildings are the bedrock of our society, addressing climate change is a challenge, but not a millstone. This is all about creating better buildings, better for investors, owners, occupiers and future generations – it is, after all, they who will ultimately inherit these assets.
Sarah Ratcliffe is chief executive of Better Buildings Partnership
Read more about how real estate is committing to the climate change challenge >>
