Report: Can the built environment achieve a green recovery?

edie has today (8 January) launched a free report detailing the appetite within the built environment sector to collaborate to overcome the challenges presented by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and to “build back better” by championing the green recovery.

As part of edie’s brand-new Mission Possible: Green Recovery campaign – which supports sustainability, energy and CSR professionals on our collective mission to drive a green recovery across all major industries in the UK – this latest series of reports will explore why a green recovery is so important for the respective industries being analysed; what a green recovery actually looks like for businesses large and small within those industries; and how sustainability and energy professionals can drive a green recovery from within.

—–CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE GREEN RECOVERY BUILT ENVIRONMENT REPORT—-

A key driver of the green recovery for built environment firms is that of collaboration. The built environment sector has a strong history of collaborating to drive low-carbon strategies. Both the WorldGBC and the UK Green Buildings Council (UKGBC) have worked tirelessly to bring construction and built environment firms to the table to discuss ways to decarbonise and improve biodiversity.

This collaborative approach has also evolved in sync with the required need for ambitious climate action. Leading companies within the industry jointly declared a climate emergency in order to set up a new taskforce to coordinate climate action across the built environment. As mentioned in this report, the Climate Group’s RE100, EV100 and SteelZero initiatives have all enabled firms to collaboratively decarbonise.

“This industry re-shaping is bringing about closer longer-term relationships between companies. We are seeing competitors coming together to share development of solutions that create economies of scale,” UK Research and Innovation’s director of the Transforming Construction Challenge, Sam Stacey, said.

The report has been created in assistance with E.ON and uses exclusive results from edie’s green recovery survey of 243 sustainability and energy professionals. This built environment report has also been produced with guidance from in-depth discussions with a steering panel of sustainability experts from some of the world’s most respected construction and built environment firms in the vanguard of sustainability leadership.

This report features the results of that exclusive survey, insight from the steering panel and key boxouts on how collaboration, innovation, net-zero and the COP26 climate conference will shape the confidence of the sector in delivering radical decarbonisation. Importantly, the report highlights how a strong focus on net-zero, technological innovations and a history of collaboration within the sector has created the building blocks to deliver a green recovery moving forward.

Additionally, viewpoints from E.ON and UK Research and Innovation help set the tone as to why businesses can be optimistic when approaching the green recovery through net-zero targets and new business practices.

“During edie’s Green Recovery event for construction, it was great to see positive collaboration between companies and hearing how they have adapted and worked through the pandemic whilst keeping sustainability at the heart of their business. This approach makes me feel optimistic about a green recovery following COVID-19,” Darren Gardner, head of E.ON Drive UK, states in the report.

Click here to download the report.

edie staff