Climate Action 2016-2017

TECHNOLOGY, TRANSPORT & URBANISATION
BUILDING FOR
ZERO EMISSIONS
Terri Wills, CEO of the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), discusses the
role and potential of the building and construction industry in combating climate
change.
When the French Foreign Minister Laurent
Fabius brought down the gavel to seal
the adoption of the Paris Agreement,
rapturous applause sounded from the delegates
gathered in the French capital, with some even
linking arms and embracing enthusiastically. It
was clear the world was witnessing a special
moment. “Today we celebrate, tomorrow we have
to act,” proclaimed Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU’s
Climate and Energy Commissioner.
In the year since the historic COP21 in Paris
and the groundbreaking climate change deal
that was secured there, it has become clear
that one of the major impacts was simply the
power and influence of world leaders coming
together in one place to commit unequivocally
to decarbonisation – in particular, through the
building and construction sector. Buildings
Day, itself a historic occasion as the first day
dedicated to the sector at any COP meeting, put
the role and potential of buildings in tackling
climate change front and centre: the building and
construction industry is one of the single biggest
contributors of greenhouse gases, accounting
for more than 30 per cent of global emissions.
But, by the same token, it also represents a major
opportunity to combat climate change, offering
one of the most cost-effective ways to do so
through measures such as energy efficiency.
It was at Buildings Day that business
leaders, policy-makers, city officials and other
organisations acknowledged this on the global
stage. It led to the creation of the Global Alliance
for Buildings and Construction (Global ABC),
an alliance of over 20 countries including both
France and Morocco, nine major businesses,
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