Climate Action 2012-2013

Left: 500 Collins Street, the first office building in Australia
to achieve a Green Star rating
THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Below: Council House 2, a six Green Star certified office
building for ecologically sustainable design in Melbourne
seven years. “Retrofitting London is a winwin,”
Johnson has said. “Not only does it make
perfect economic and common sense by cutting
energy costs, but it also reduces carbon
emissions and stimulates the capital’s
burgeoning low carbon economy, creating jobs
and boosting skills.”
In the US, the Environmental Protection
Agency is running a ‘Battle of the Buildings’ in
which 245 facilities compete to save the most
on their utility bills through energy efficiency
improvements. Over the border in Canada, the
Better Buildings Partnership in Toronto has
brought together building owners, managers
and tenants to work on 1,896 energy efficiency
projects. The combined energy saving is
estimated at C$55 million annually. Impressively,
the City of Toronto estimates the programme has
created more than 80,000 jobs.
The World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD), a consortium of some
“WBCSD has laid out a
roadmap for a transformation
of the sector to reduce
energy use.”
of the world’s leading companies, has laid out
a roadmap for a transformation of the sector to
reduce energy use in buildings by 80 per cent
by 2050. The WorldGBC is partnering with
the WBCSD on the next phase of this Energy
Efficiency in Buildings initiative, which will
harness the knowledge of the private sector
to create a replicable process for widespread
implementation of energy efficiency.
A GREEN GOLD RUSH
In Australia, two-thirds of Melbourne’s
commercial buildings are receiving sustainable
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