Editor: The climate crisis poses the single greatest threat and opportunity that has ever confronted our industry. Radical collaboration, as set out in the launch of this year’s Climate Crisis Challenge campaign, is welcome and necessary.
As Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive of UKGBC and keynote speaker at CREtech London in April, points out, the real estate industry is responsible for 25% of total UK emissions and 40% globally.
As a result of the industry being the single largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions through operating and embodied carbon, the world is now converging on the sector to decarbonise with tremendous urgency.
From local governments to office tenants, consumers and employees, lenders to underwriters, the real estate industry is facing enormous pressure to embrace sustainability in a meaningful, measurable way.
While education and ideas are vital for changing behaviour, we in the property sector have the responsibility and privilege to be able to act now to effect real change.
Technology can be the catalyst that will enable industries like real estate to achieve widespread net zero targets, and many of the real estate industry’s largest companies are taking this threat very seriously.
I believe the answers to the climate crisis will ultimately be solved by technology and working together. While we need to guard against greenwashing, I’m confident the real estate sector will lead the world in investing in the solutions that will make a measurable impact in reducing carbon emissions.
We know we can and must work together to do so – and Property Week’s campaign is an important step in making that happen.
Michael Beckerman, chief executive, CREtech and CREtech Climate
No comments yet