We’ve reported before on commitments made by developers worldwide to net zero carbon buildings – buildings which, over their lifetime, cause no carbon to be emitted to the atmosphere – so here is an update on how those developers are doing, thanks to the World Green Building Council, amongst others.
The World Green Building Council (WGBC) claims that Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment signatories are taking accelerated action to decarbonise their portfolios and the built environment. But is this enough?
Consider that, in its annual report for 2021, Grosvenor Property UK said that its net zero carbon pathway was validated by the Science Based Targets initiative and so was its offset strategy, which it is using in an effort to become the first carbon neutral UK property company in 2025 across scope 1, 2 and 3. That is to say, including the greenhouse gas emissions caused by energy that is bought in as well as generated.
By working with the occupiers of its buildings and using a circular system of materials supply it is finding that there is a 35 per cent reduction in energy use per building.
To be fair, it is monitoring progress. Its goal by 2030 is to reduce emissions to 28.6 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide per year, which it will offset. Its annual emissions in the baseline year of2018, were 59.1 kilotonnes; in 2020 the figure was 47.5, and in 2021 it was 44.7, so it reckons that at this rate it is on target.
It’s the best of a small bunch.
The state of California in the US, known to be ahead of the game in the country due partly to the fact that it experiences extreme drought and forest fires, has made extensive low and zero carbon targets.
For example, the city of Menlo Park has pledged to decarbonise 95 per cent of its buildings by 2030. Helping to do it is a company called Blocpower, which uses renewable energy to offset energy costs of buildings that are technically or economically unfeasible to insulate, focusing on low income residents.
Basically and realistically it must be recognised that this is the way that the carbon neutral revolution will happen; only with new homes will it be possible and economic to build genuine carbon neutrality.
Elsewhere, away from the relatively rich and privileged, insulated as we are from the harsh reality of climate change, it is very important that mistakes made by developed countries are not repeated in developing countries, thus locking in greenhouse gas emissions for the foreseeable future. They don’t have to follow our path.
So it’s good that in Kenya, the construction of a logistics park is trying to show the way it should be done. West Logistics Park is Edge Certified, and the warehouse has an estimated 40 per cent savings on energy, water and materials.
Africa Logistics Properties, which is developing this site, has committed to the rather woolly target to “reduce all operational emissions across portfolio, maximising reduction of embodied carbon in new developments and major renovations by 2030”. This is better than nothing and better than most developers, who haven’t signed up to this commitment, but it certainly lacks a provable, science based and hard target.
The global net zero energy building market is not growing fast enough
And here we find the nub of the problem: developers are just not stepping up to the mark. The global net-zero energy buildings market is set to grow around 27 per cent during 2021-2026 according to the latest report by IMARC Group, titled Net-Zero Energy Buildings Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026.
IMARC believes that contributing to the growth is the fact that “NZEBs offer improved energy-related affordability, stabilised temperature variations, and access to basic amenities, including clean water, education, and medical care”.
That may be true, but 27 per cent is a disappointingly low rate; it means that 73 per cent of all new buildings will have high energy usage locked in for their lifetime. So it’s no surprise that the building sector “is not on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050,” as warned by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) in a report published last week.
Emissions from the sector are actually rising, driven by the growing use of hydrofluorocarbons in air conditioning and refrigeration. Water heating, cooking, and clothes drying are also major contributors, ITIF says.
In addition, existing buildings also need attention. Emma Hoskyn, head of sustainability, JLL UK, is one of many in the industry who believe that only with a focus on retrofitting and energy efficiency can climate goals be met.
“We need a retrofitting revolution to make our existing buildings compliant with future standards and occupier expectations. The current retrofit rate of 3 per cent per year will need to pick up significantly,” she says.
Opportunity knocks
Ms Hoskyn says: “While this represents a significant challenge, it is also a major opportunity – carbon refurbishment and higher standards for new buildings will result in long-term energy cost savings for occupiers and value add for landlords, through lower voids and potential rental premiums.
“This represents an early-mover advantage for investors and owners, who can capitalise on the general shortage of low carbon buildings available to occupiers,” she adds, but “only a few at the very forefront are bold enough to move into the early stages of delivering net-zero buildings.”
Clearly there are benefits for acting now. To help fill this vacuum, a new collaborative network of forward-thinking housing developers was launched last month in the UK, hoping to accelerate the delivery of new build net zero homes. Convened by the Good Homes Alliance (GHA), the “Net Zero Developer Network” aims to share best practice and create new guidance for new housing developments, building on the success of the GHA Vanguard Network of local authorities and Pathfinder Network of housing associations.
These networks, with over 30 members combined, represent 350,000 existing homes and 120,000 new build homes to be developed in the next 10 years. Similar networks are mushrooming in other European countries and North America.
The GHA’s conference, to be held in December, will centre on its Build Net Zero NOW campaign, with a focus on net zero energy, finance and policy, placemaking and design.
Good article, but buying offsets (ACCU’s), whatever their quality, does not result in ANY emissions reduction – it’s a complete delusion and one that the whole world is utterly relying on to pretend to be meeting its commitments. We are in such deep shit because we would rather delude ourselves than get real about emissons reductions. Here’s why, in 2022, it’s a delusion https://johnmenadue.com/carbon-offsets-are-a-delusion/. What’s especially dangerous is the argument about quality of ACCU’s – this distracts us from realising that the whole thing is bogus, making us believe that with high quality ACCU’s everything is OK. We will tip all of the climate feedback loops into an unstoppbale transition to an unsurvivable future long before we realise that we are completely deluding ourselves! Don’t look up!