The recent report of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis provides new estimates of the chances of crossing the crucial global warming level of 1.5 C in the coming decades. It finds that “unless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5 C or even 2 C will be beyond reach.”
In response to the rapidly developing global warming landscape, Building Design+Construction has introduced ProCONNECT Sustainability | Wellness | Resilience (Nov 2-3, 2021, 11am to 4:25pm ET).
ProCONNECT Sustainability gives AEC professionals and developers with responsibility for high-performance buildings—chief sustainability officers, directors of sustainability, LEED Fellows, LFAs, WELL APs, resilience directors, net-zero building experts, and other “climate-action champions”—the opportunity to meet one-on-one with top product manufacturers to discuss their firms’ climate-action, wellness, and resilience agendas and discover practical solutions that can enhance their firms’ high-performance projects.
More than 40 AEC firms, developers, and consultants have committed to participating in ProCONNECT Sustainability. There is no charge for Attendees. To learn more, click here.
Construction equipment manufacturers and suppliers who would like more information about sponsoring ProCONNECT Sustainability can contact: Rick Blesi, [email protected], 847.954.7931.
According to some, existing and new-construction buildings and homes are the biggest source of global carbon emissions with 11 percent attributed to building materials and construction.
This past July, AGC of America formed a Climate Change Task Force to hone in on “the top impacts associated with climate change for construction markets and construction firms.”
Among the task force members are The Beck Group, Clark Construction Group, Linbeck Group, McCarthy Holdings, and Swinerton.
One of the “discussion points” that the AGC Task Force plans to undertake is to “engage with equipment manufacturers to improve energy efficiency and emissions performance without sacrificing safety or power output.”
According to Building Design+Construction, the nation’s major contractors are pushing construction equipment manufacturers and suppliers to slash carbon emissions on the job site. One sustainability director told BD+C that their firm was committed to cutting on-site greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by the end of this decade.
In Northern California, a coalition of general contractors called the Bay Area Sustainable Construction Leaders is asking equipment manufacturers and rental companies what they’re doing to electrify their fleets. All the major equipment makers, from Caterpillar to Volvo, know they have to electrify as quickly as possible. Ford has introduced the all-electric F-150 Lightning work truck. Sunbelt Rentals has issued a “Sustainability Plan 2030” that aligns with eight of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. It’s a movement that would have been unheard of 10 years ago.
