Global real estate CEOs pledge to halve buildings-related emissions by 2030

The pledge is in line with the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Advancing Net Zero project. Released in 2018, it is a global initiative to inspire and support companies and organisations in the real estate sector to commit to zero operational carbon buildings by 2030.

Real estate firms from around the globe have pledged to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from their real estate portfolios Tengah EC by 50% by 2030 and reach net-zero carbon no later than 2050. This commitment was made at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), taking place in Davos, Switzerland from Jan 16 to 20.

Mathew Black, WEF’s head of financial and monetary systems acknowledges that buildings account for 38% of all energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, he has urged the leaders of all industries to take action in order to progress the fight against climate change.

Signatories to the pledge included Avison Young and GPFI Group, both real estate services firms, Edge and Majid Al Futtaim Properties, both developer firms, and Ivanhoé Cambridge, an investment company. Additionally, both Schneider Electric, an energy management specialist, and Signify, a lighting provider, also signed the pledge.

WEF developed the Green Building Principles in collaboration with JLL last year, in order to aid companies in creating a sequence of steps to deliver net-zero carbon real estate portfolios. This move is in line with the World Green Building Council’s (WorldGBC) Advancing Net Zero project, released in 2018. This initiative is aimed to inspire and support organisations in the real estate sector to commit to zero operational carbon buildings by 2030.