After COP27, there’s scope for more leadership from cities and business in the built environment
AECOM’s President Lara Poloni reflects on a mixed outcome at the UN climate conference in Egypt
The recent COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheik did not achieve the progress we had hoped to see.
Although there was definite progress in the accord to provide those countries most vulnerable to climate change with “loss and damage” funding, most of the final COP27 headlines rightly focused on failure to find an agreement that would accelerate the phasing out of fossil fuels.
All is far from lost, though: what Egypt highlighted is the potential for leadership in decarbonization, particularly driven at the level of sub-national entities, such as cities, and focused on the built environment. These are areas where AECOM has made substantial progress in recent years and working with our partners we will continue to drive a positive and innovative agenda, taking a leadership position on action wherever we can.
Reducing carbon in the built environment
The built environment generates approximately 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, with roughly two-thirds of that in operations and the remainder in embodied carbon in materials and construction. This arena clearly offers huge opportunities to bring down emissions – not to mention energy costs – and we welcome the Breakthrough 2030 announcement made in Egypt.
Breakthrough 2030, which is one of a number of initiatives in the UN’s Race to Zero campaigns, holds that all new buildings projects completed from 2030 should be net zero in their operations and see a reduction of more than 40 percent in their embodied carbon.
AECOM has set itself a more ambitious target of a 50 percent reduction in carbon impact in major projects through our ScopeX program. With ScopeX, our engineers and designers work with clients through the entire life cycle of a project, from design and planning to construction using digital tools and data to identify all potential options for carbon reduction across buildings and infrastructure. By reducing waste, using existing and low carbon materials and technologies, as well as choosing refurbishment over new build, we can achieve significant impact.
Cities can lead the way
The great majority of built infrastructure work will take place in cities, where the World Bank estimates that more than two-thirds of the 2050 global population of 10 billion will live. So, it was encouraging that civic leaders were active and vocal at COP in insisting that cities will press forward with initiatives to address the climate crisis at that level, while continuing to call for more support from national governments.
AECOM works closely with our partners and has supported the ambitions of the C40 group, a network of mayors representing 100 major cities, with the development of an inclusive tool to help address climate impacts through an equality and diversity lens, creating more just climate action plans.
In the context of cities, business and finance taking a leadership role, valuable new guidance published by the UN’s High-Level Expert Group on the net zero commitments of non-state actors sets a robust new framework for climate commitments. Those, including AECOM, adhering to the ten recommendations will find comfort in the comprehensive approach that drives radical transparency on data and progress, science-based and third-party accountability, and renewed focus on near term and medium targets on the path to net zero.
Last but by no means least, and in a departure from previous COPs and in the run up to the biodiversity COP in Montreal in a few days’ time, nature featured prominently in COP27 discussions, perhaps most notably on financial sector commitments to halting biodiversity and forestry loss. Indeed, nature-based solutions were included in the COP27 text for the first time, with forests, oceans and agriculture each having their own section. For AECOM, this provides further impetus to our efforts to prioritize nature-based and natural climate solutions into all our infrastructure and buildings projects.
Where international politics is inevitably complicated and might limit the climate response, there is scope for decisive action at the non-state level, whether it be in local government, finance or industry. AECOM will continue to pursue opportunities to work with all stakeholders and partners at every level to provide technical skills and expertise that bring about positive action on climate and biodiversity.