Yesterday, the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) officially concluded in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. More than 90,000 people registered to participate, making COP28 the largest climate event ever, with a growing number of representatives from the public and private sectors, including **, institutions, and businesses, hoping to find answers to their climate dilemma.
The construction industry, as one of the major contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, is also a cutting-edge focus for COP28. Using the LEED green building and city evaluation system as a tool, the USGBC, as an early initiator of the global green building movement, became an active promoter of the climate transition in buildings at COP28.
Peter Templeton, President and CEO of GABCUSGBC & GBCI, Jing Wang, Vice President of North Asia, and other representatives went to Dubai to participate in the climate change conference, and voiced their voices from the green building field on different stages.
OneLEED North Asia at COP28
Jing Wang was invited by Delta's e-Culture and Education Conference to speak and participate in a roundtable discussion at the "Promoting Empowerment and Resilience in the Construction Industry" conference held on December 8 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. local time.
With the theme of "Harnessing the Power of LEED to Maximize Sustainability", Jing Wang was the first keynote speaker to introduce the LEED rating system and its global practices. She highlighted the full impact of LEED on sustainable buildings beyond energy conservation and emission reduction, and cited several LEED certification best practices in North Asia as a model to show how LEED can embed sustainable DNA into project operations and ultimately improve people's health and well-being in different types of projects.
Wang Jing shared at COP28.
She shared the case studies of Namosha Minquan Primary School, the first LEED Zero Energy certified library in Asia, and the first McDonald's Tai Wo Plaza store in Hong Kong, China. Located in Kaohsiung's Namasia Minquan Primary School, which was rebuilt after the disaster donated by Delta, the library not only has excellent energy consumption, but also meets the basic safety functions and teaching purposes, and serves as a refuge for the surrounding villagers in the event of a climate crisis. In addition to using environmentally friendly materials such as wood that collapsed due to typhoon blowing in the exterior wall, the restaurant provides an outdoor amusement park to benefit the surrounding community, and some public welfare education of the restaurant also encourages the public to practice environmental protection. In addition, Wang Jing also mentioned that since McDonald's China announced its green restaurant plan in 2018, 2,500 restaurants have been LEED certified, and it has also used its scale to convey the concept of green building and sustainable lifestyle to the public.
In the roundtable discussion that followed, Wang Jing was joined by Zhang Yangqian, CEO of Delta's e-Culture and Education** Association, Tracy Wyman, Head of Outreach and Engagement of the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTI), Muyiwa Oki, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), and Stefan M., Chair of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Expert Group on Energy EfficiencyDr. Buettner shared the enablement programs and practices of organizations around the world in the field of construction, and taught strategies on how to work with the public to achieve a more low-carbon and resilient built environment.
Wang Jing spoke at the roundtable discussion.
Wang Jing talked about achieving 1Key challenges to the 5°C climate target. "Just as the ingredient list on food packaging tells people about the health attributes of food, the environmental performance of buildings has not yet been visualized," she said. I hope that in the future, more buildings will demonstrate their sustainability in a visual way, so that more people can understand the importance and practical significance of green buildings. ”
2. Committed to the climate transition of buildings, LEED is active in COP
Over the past few years, LEED has been a strong supporter and participant of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) and has been using the COP as a platform to advocate for the decarbonization of the building sector to be included in national emissions reduction targets and to promote solutions.
At COP28, the USGBC is one of the sponsors of the Architecture Pavilion and hosts and participates in a variety of diverse events.
Released the 2023 State of Decarbonization report
On December 5, the USGBC and Arup jointly released the first State of Decarbonization 2023 report, which was prepared by USGBC headquarters in collaboration with Arup and focuses on carbon emissions from commercial real estate operations in the United States. The State of Decarbonisation 2023 report is the first to bring together key data from the sector and carbon reduction mechanisms for buildings. These analyses will spur dialogue and action, helping policymakers, advocates, and businesses understand the current state of carbon emissions in building operations and develop strategies accordingly.
Peter Templeton, President and CEO of USGBC & GBCI, officially unveiled the report at the Architecture Pavilion.
Support the global Breakthrough in Construction initiative
December 6 is COP28's Multi-Level Action, Urbanization and Built Environment Mobility Theme Day. On this day, the "Building Breakthrough" was officially launched. More than 20 countries joined in pledging to set net-zero and resilience targets for buildings, along with concrete actions to implement them to achieve a vision of near-zero emissions and resilient buildings as the new normal by 2030.
More than 20 countries have pledged to join the Building Breakthrough
The launch of the "Breakthrough in Construction" also means that the construction industry is receiving more and more attention in the international talks at COP28. There have been a number of international initiatives to support the "Building Breakthrough", including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)'s "Empowering Sustainable and Resilient Buildings" initiative, which calls on signatories** to commit to adopting building energy codes that are aligned with global climate goals and achieving zero emissions in new buildings by 2030. The USGBC is a partner organization of the initiative, and it will assist countries** in achieving the goals set by the initiative.
In addition, the USGBC joined more than 75 green building committees and companies in a joint open letter to negotiators, calling on them to recognize the potential of decarbonizing the building sector in the outcome document of COP28.
Leaders' Summit and Green Building Observation
On December 7, the USGBC also hosted a Leadership Summit with the theme "Transforming the Market with LEED," which brought together many of the local LEED project teams and participants involved in COP28.
Peter Templeton opened the summit by praising the region's pioneering leadership in green building development and awarding more than 30 LEED-certified projects in the MENA region that are committed to decarbonization and resilience.
Peter Templeton awarded a plaque for a local project at COP28.
LEED City Vice President Hilari Varnadore (first from left) moderated the roundtable discussion that followed.
On the same day (7 December), a green building tour with the theme of "LEED x Sustainable Building" was held in Dubai, where the USGBC, in partnership with the American Institute of Architects (AIA), took attendees on a tour of the LEED Platinum-certified ICD Brookfield Place, the LEED Platinum-certified Jones Lang LaSalle office, and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce Building, which has achieved LEED O+M Platinum certification three times in the past 15 years.
In addition, we have hosted COP28 side events, leaders' summits, and more to advocate for resource sharing, policy engagement, and partnership development.
Now in its 28th year since 1995, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) has been in the spotlight this year as nearly 100 Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have conducted their first global stocktake to assess the impact of countries' climate actions on limiting temperature rise. The results of this stocktaking show that countries' pledges and efforts to reduce emissions are far from sufficient to address the climate crisis.
With less than 6 years to go until 2030, LEED continues to contribute to climate action in the construction industry through its continuous iterative upgrading system and its own influence, and we hope that more partners who are interested in building transformation can join us to contribute to the sustainable development of mankind.