Vanessa Butani, VP of Group Sustainability at Electrolux Group; Guillaume Charny-Brunet, Co-Founder and Head of Ventures at SPACE10; and Juhani Aspara, Regional Manager at Skanska in Finland, are all working to create built environments that enable healthy, sustainable living.

Sustainability is a team effort. No organization can achieve carbon neutrality on its own but, by working together, we can enact a holistic plan of sustainability that creates a cleaner, safer and healthier built environment.

The transportation sector is one of the biggest contributors to global carbon emissions. But in our globalized economy, the need for safe, fast and reliable transportation isn’t going away.

In our globalized economy, the need for safe, fast and reliable transportation isn’t going away, so decarbonization efforts must focus on creating more sustainable, energy-saving methods of mobility. Read the article where industry leaders working on clean transportation initiatives offer a glimpse into specific solutions to transportation emissions.

We sat down with three industry and community experts who are already working to prepare urban environments for exactly these sorts of challenges. Sabrina Bornstein, Principal and Head of Climate Resilience at Buro Happold, Christopher Westley, Senior Vice President of Strategic Services at Skanska USA Commercial Development, and Sylvester Turner, Mayor of Houston, are all leaders working to shape climate-resilient urban spaces.

How can cities prepare for the impact of climate change in ways that also improve social equity? In this episode of Shaping Sustainable Places, we discuss what cities are doing to become more resilient.

Fires and floods, droughts and downpours: the extreme weather seen around the world this year, which has killed thousands and forced millions from their homes, is in line with predictions under climate modeling of global warming.

We all share a basic need for homes, workplaces and the infrastructure that makes up our communities. A clean, safe and well-planned built environment allows us to lead meaningful lives and to reach our full potential.

Energy is one of the hottest questions as we consider ways to ensure a sustainable future. A clean energy transition is well underway in many countries, with electrification lowering carbon emissions in transport systems as well as construction and development projects. Yet, major challenges remain. How can the built environment play a positive role here? 

Thankfully, although many important technological innovations are in the pipeline, the truth is that much of the technology we need to reduce buildings’ carbon emissions already exists. By using energy more efficiently with existing tools and resources, we can drastically reduce urban energy consumption and, in turn, reduce carbon emissions.

It’s the first building in Georgia, and 28th in the world, to earn the Living Building Challenge certification and is net positive in both energy and water consumption. Its construction phase boasted a zero carbon footprint. 

The Kendeda Building is the most environmentally advanced educational and research facility in the US Southeast. It boasts an innovative sustainable design and was also the first building in Georgia, and 28th in the world, to earn the Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification. It is net positive both in energy and water consumption, and its construction phase achieved a zero carbon footprint. It was designed and built to be a healthy, inclusive and attractive workspace for the faculty and students.

“By keeping carbon inside wood, one day timber could turn our homes and even entire cities into carbon sinks,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during an event on November 24, 2022.

Developers and city planners across the globe are focusing on solutions that benefit people, communities and the environment. Mark Watts at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Guillaume Charny-Brunet at SPACE10 and Morten Kjer Jeppesen at Gehl are involved in creating sustainable cities through urgent climate actions.

The world’s population recently topped 8 billion people, and more than half of those people live in cities today. This number is set to rise to 60% by 2030. We need our cities to be inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable in order to support this growing population. 

By giving thought now to what kinds of urban spaces work best, we can build comfortable, sustainable cities that improve life for ourselves – and for future generations. 

The population is growing and infrastructure is needed to support it. But the built environment is a major source of CO2 emissions, around 40 percent. Many of these emissions are produced when new materials are manufactured, such as cement, steel and glass.

The built environment is responsible for 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions globally. And it just continues to grow, essentially adding one New York City each month with construction materials being the primary cause of emissions. This presents an incredible challenge. However, sustainable innovations in cement, steel, glass, and other materials can significantly move us forward on the journey toward low-carbon construction.

Rethinking how we design and use materials, and avoiding over-specification (generally the stronger the concrete, the more cement is required), can make the construction process more efficient. And using more efficient design and delivery methods, modularization and digital rehearsals to avoid design clashes, can cut emissions.

How else can we pave the way to a sustainable future for the construction industry? Let’s have a look at four solutions from the Skanska world.

A zero-energy building (ZEB) has such high energy efficiency that it consumes no net energy from the energy grid. Such buildings should generate enough energy from their own renewable sources – such as solar panels – to cover their annual energy requirements. A nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) has achieved almost the same levels, requiring minimal energy from external sources.

The built environment is responsible for around 40 percent of energy-related carbon emissions globally. Reducing emissions throughout the entire life cycle can have a significant effect on carbon minimization as we try to limit global warming to 1.5C.

We see a world where sustainability is simply built into living. By coming together to think differently and solve problems today, we have the power to shape sustainable places to support healthy living beyond our lifetime.