Who will answer the call?
Now’s the time to reimagine the built environment.
What if we reimagined the built environment? Could it be a core solution to the climate challenges humanity faces? Yes, it can. It's why extraordinary times call for exceptional thinking.
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The global impact of climate change is already driving humanity to act, whether it’s zero-carbon buildings, fully electrified infrastructure powered by renewables or fossil fuel-free construction sites. Actions that are taken now can positively impact the built environment and the health of our planet for decades to come.
A more sustainable future involves shifting the dial – at pace and scale – when it comes to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters. This inspiring journey involves activating new ideas, reimagining what our built spaces look like, as well as how they are funded, delivered and utilized.
Right now, there is an incredible opportunity for a significant shift in mindset. If articulated today, a just, resilient and climate-positive tomorrow can be delivered. Some innovative organizations are already taking a constructive lead delivering transformative change as this issue gains traction.
It’s why top industry experts from around the globe took part in an extensive consultation by the Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group, a global team of Tetra Tech’s built environment experts. The aim – to share inspiration and explore illuminating answers on how to accelerate the shift towards net-zero emissions and a climate resilient built environment. Real estate providers, engineers, financiers, sustainability and ESG experts, as well as those in public service provision, were also interviewed.
Reimagining the built environment was a key theme highlighted. If the ‘rules of the game’ shift then the sector has the ability to drive positive change at scale, which will result in reducing emissions, as well as supporting adaptation to an unpredictable climate. The mass adoption of low carbon materials and renewable energy sources could catalyze the impact of already powerful solutions. The desire for systemic and optimistic innovation was palpable among many respondents.
One clear message emerged from this consultation: there is an overwhelming and compelling case for building with ESG factors as defining principles. Simple, viable, desirable, and profitable business cases that follow good environmental, social and governance practices come to the fore. A new vision of a climate-positive built environment is already being delivered by some, but to effectively scale impact, it must be easy for all to understand, practical to adopt, and cost-effective to implement around the globe.
And there’s a reason for this impetus – the built environment has the potential to be a significant part of the solution when it comes to this challenge. Buildings alone continue to be responsible for 39 percent of all global emissions, including both operational and embodied carbon.
And while governments can accelerate climate action with astute policies, the private sector, globally, also has a significant role to play in advancing innovation and turning concepts into impact. Already some in the private sector are inspiring others with the ‘art of the possible’ in terms of ESG, in many cases going beyond regulatory requirements. These innovators are offering inspiration and a blueprint for reimagining the built environment globally. It shows that ‘the future is here; it is just early in the adoption and proliferation of ideas and experience’.
Reimagining can’t just be focused on bricks and mortar, but the market as a whole. And how an ecosystem of industry players from financiers to insurers, underwriters to developers can be encouraged to change. This is dependent on what humankind values and whether there can be a shift from a purely financial and economic focus towards a broader definition of value, which includes environmental values, community and social values, wellbeing and health.
Reimagining also involves drawing on and challenging collective expertise while integrating local knowledge and experience. Diversity of thought is paramount in this process. Local experiences and values, especially in regions impacted by a changing climate, can help articulate positive change, align more closely with nature, and integrate their knowledge to co-create locally led solutions.
This is an incredibly exciting time to reimagine the built environment because we live in an age of experimentation. The market has yet to define global norms when it comes to ESG. Fully functioning carbon markets are nascent. Policies are evolving, so are definitions of value. Yet many solutions are emerging worldwide – whether it is full electrification of assets that harness renewable energy sources, the use of mass timber, low-carbon steel, or nature-based solutions integrated seamlessly into design.
Making these sustainable solutions more affordable, more mainstream, is now an attainable goal. Each solution delivered is additive, providing a groundswell of positive change. Collectively building back better can make a difference, resulting in healthier sustainable buildings that deliver on both climate and ESG goals over time.
‘Value lock-in’ has also yet to occur, where one set of values or systems wins over others and stays in place, locking in specific models for finance, frameworks for extracting value, or risk assessment. Past industrial revolutions show that value lock-in occurs over time. It is therefore the perfect time to be motivated, to reimagine the built environment, to experiment, innovate and offer up climate positive solutions to the market.
What solutions are proposed for new and updated buildings therefore matter – this raises the bar - by reimagining every opportunity, by offering climate positive solutions that question the norm.
Reimagining the built environment is an essential component to meeting the United Nation’s Buildings Breakthrough Goal – where all new and refurbished buildings from 2030 should be ‘near zero carbon emissions and resilient.’
How can we reimagine the market we operate in? How can we spread new ideas and thinking more quickly? How can we capitalize on people’s connections with nature? And finally, how can we extend a more sophisticated definition of value?
Reimagining the built environment today is crucial for a more sustainable tomorrow.
Be part of the change.
Reimagining – a debate in three questions:
How do we urgently reimagine our industry to ensure a sustainable built environment?
How can we all be a catalyst for change to make a just transition to zero carbon?
How can we incentivize industry collaboration to reimagine our built environment?
Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group
Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group brings together the expertise of talented engineers, commissioning agents, and energy analysts from around the world. For more than 50 years, Tetra Tech’s design practice has expanded to meet the needs of commercial and government clients looking to improve the sustainability of their buildings.
Meet some of the Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group team:
Hayley Koerbin, NDY Global Sustainability Director, Australia and New Zealand
Hayley leads NDY’s Global Sustainability Group, a team of highly skilled and diverse consultants driving sustainability solutions across the built environment. She is responsible for the management, leadership, and development of the sustainability team at NDY, ensuring delivery of outstanding sustainability services for our markets and clients, across all operating regions. Hayley also oversees and drives continual improvement of NDY’s own ESG performance.
Helen Rubinstein, Cosentini Director of Sustainability, United States
At Cosentini, Helen has led numerous projects across the US and abroad through green building certifications and incentives, including mixed-use developments, core and shell office buildings, residential high-rises, hotels, libraries, corporate and institutional campuses, and commercial interior fit-outs. She specializes in finding the best sustainability strategy for complex projects, as well as shepherding projects and teams that are new to sustainability through the process of certification. She has also led internal and external education around sustainability and developed tools to streamline Cosentini’s sustainability consulting practice.
Nicole Isle, Glumac Chief Sustainability Strategist, United States
With 17-years-experience, Nicole is a creative thought leader and expert practitioner leading sustainability and climate plans and projects for the Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group. Together with her team, they create innovative, high-performance solutions for the built environment across scales. Their goal is to cut energy and water use, drawdown carbon, adapt to climate change, and protect human health and ecological systems. Green Building & Design honoured Nicole with the Women in Sustainability Leadership Award (WSLA) in 2016, one of 20 women globally.
Ashley Bateson, Hoare Lea Director and Head of Sustainability, U.K.
Ashley leads low-energy design and sustainability strategies across a range of built environment sectors, including office, residential, mixed-use, and master plan projects. He is interested in building performance evaluation, human-centric design and zero carbon development. He was a consulting building services engineer in Sweden and the UK before specialising in sustainability consultancy. Ashley is a past Vice President of CIBSE and leads the steering group for the UK Buildings Services Engineers Climate Emergency Declaration. He chairs the New London Architecture (NLA) Net Zero Expert Panel.