Ahead of COP27, World Green Building Week 2022 calls on the global building and construction sectors to accelerate uptake of low carbon built environment solutions
From 12-16 September 2022, Green Building Councils (GBCs) across the globe will unite to take part in the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) annual World Green Building Week (WGBW) to accelerate the Sustainable Development Goals, working towards a resilient and low carbon built environment.
Now in its 14th year, and led by a network of over 70 national Green Building Councils and their 36,000 members, the week-long event is the world’s largest campaign to accelerate sustainable built environments for everyone.
Throughout the week, the GBC network will host events across the world and share examples of #BuildingforEveryone — built environments that drive climate action and thriving communities and economies.
#BuildingforEveryone’s themes highlight how the built environment can support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
This year’s campaign ties into WorldGBC’s 20 year anniversary and the #BuildingToCOP27 initiative, which aims to elevate the role the built environment can play as a critical climate solution in the context of the UN climate negotiations taking place in Egypt in November 2022.
This year’s themes highlight how the network is catalysing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which include:
Building for the planet
The climate crisis is also a global health crisis. Unless we take urgent action to reduce climate breakdown now, the health of millions of people will be negatively affected by increased temperatures, infectious diseases will spread faster, and it will be harder to grow the food we need to live healthily.
Building for communities
1.6 billion people will lack access to safe, adequate housing by 2025. To combat the global cost of living crisis, we need to take urgent action now to address inadequate, unaffordable housing and enhance equity, economic productivity and environmental sustainability.
Building for economies
Sustainable built environments bolster our economies’ most important asset — nature. Accelerating a more circular and regenerative economy will create new jobs and savings on energy bills. We need to take urgent action now to advance economies that are more productive and resilient for our communities and our planet.
WorldGBC will also host webinars dedicated to creating resilient homes and equity in the low carbon built environment.
Half of the world’s population is already facing the impact of climate change
Cristina Gamboa, CEO, World Green Building Council:
“Four billion people are vulnerable today to the impacts of climate change, and the World Meteorological Organisation reports we already have a 50% chance of breaching 1.5°C of warming over the next five years. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution kills over seven million people a year. And right now, the energy and cost of living crisis is already disproportionately affecting our societies’ most vulnerable people.”
“The global built environment is responsible for almost 40% of global energy-related carbon emissions and 50% of extracted materials. By 2050, 1.6 billion urban dwellers will be regularly exposed to extreme high temperatures, which causes droughts and wildfire, and over 800 million people, living in more than 570 cities, will be vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal flooding.
A low carbon built environment would play a monumental part in decarbonising our economies
“The built environment accounts for 10% of employment and 50% of all wealth. But climate change increases the risk of built assets becoming stranded ones. Climate change risks US $16 trillion of value for residential real estate assets and US $5 trillion for global commercial assets,” Cristina continues.
“As we build on the successes of Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day at the UN Climate Conference, COP26, in 2021 and continue to advocate for climate action towards COP27, leaders must leverage the untapped opportunities of the built environment to decarbonise our economies and provide social economic benefits for those who need it the most.
“That’s why this World Green Building Week our #BuildingforEveryone campaign is putting people back at the heart of the built environment. Between 12-16 September, we’re inviting our global community to take urgent action to accelerate the UN Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable built environments for everyone, everywhere.”
