Committee on Climate Change
Independent advisors to the UK Government on tackling and preparing for climate change
Paul King - UKGBC |
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What is the green building council and what is its background? We’re coming up to our 3rd birthday – so still very much a new kid on the block in many respects, although some of our sister organisations have been around for a long time in places like the US and Australia. We describe ourselves as a ‘campaign for a sustainable built environment’, with membership coming primarily from the private sector – right across construction and property – but also some government agencies, such as EST and the Environment Agency, and some NGOs such as WWF. We exist to bring about a radical transformation of our built environment, both new and existing homes and buildings – right the way from planning and design through to construction, occupancy and change of use. And we do that through a variety of ways – working with the industry to help them go further faster and working with government on unlocking the huge potential in this emerging market.What do you think is the biggest challenge with our homes in tackling climate change? Home refurbishment is probably the single hardest nut to crack, given you’re dealing with 26 million different stakeholders, but it would bring us the greatest gains. It’s an area we’ve done a lot of work on over the last 18 months, in conjunction with others, and you tend to come back to the same points. The key barriers are lack of upfront capital for homeowner, the lack of incentive to take out measures in the first place and the general feeling of hassle associated with the whole exercise. The flip side of that is that if we’re able to introduce innovative finance schemes such as ‘Pay As You Save’, if government can introduce incentives – or more controversially, disincentives – to encourage action, and if there is a clear sense of what the regulatory trajectory is, then the market will be able to respond and we’ll bring about a genuine ‘refurbishment revolution’. Do you think targets to reduce emissions from our building are achievable? Which ones? We don’t have anything like a clear carbon budget specifically for our buildings, responsible for 44% of UK emissions, which I think is needed – a clear sense of what should be achieved, by when and how we’re going to get there. The UK-GBC has recently said that the construction and property sector – and of course government – should be aiming for a 50% reduction in CO2 from the whole of the built environment by 2020. The logic being that buildings represent by far and away the most cost-effective carbon mitigation potential and will probably have to take on a greater share of the UK’s burden. We know how to go to pretty much any home or buildings and cost-effectively cut emissions by over 50% - the big question is how we scale this up. Do you think there are potential economic opportunities for companies that build more environmentally sustainable homes and buildings? That’s at the heart of our message. Ultimately we shouldn’t be talking about greener buildings, just better buildings – cheaper to run, more productive to work in, more pleasant to live in, improved natural light and ventilation and greater asset value for owners. There is a huge market opportunity at every step of the supply chain, to help bring this about. It will require a combination of market drivers, regulatory pressure, consumer or occupier demand and financial incentives – but I think it’s absolutely achievable and hugely beneficial to UK Plc. What role do you think the planning system can play in reducing emissions in the UK? A very significant one. We frequently talk about homes and buildings, but let’s not forget about the infrastructure that connects them. Planning has a pivotal role in mapping the energy needs of developments, joining up new and existing communities and in partnership with building control will help ensure that what is being delivered on the ground actually measures up to the targets we’re setting. The new definition of a zero carbon home (and building) now means involving planners in the deployment of so-called ‘allowable solutions’ – a really interesting opportunity for investment in local low and zero carbon infrastructure. And of course there’s the old chestnut of allowing the refurbishment of heritage buildings, which will have to move higher up the agenda. |
Web picture.jpg "Paul King")
Paul became the first CEO of the UK-GBC in May 2007. He was previously a member of the Sustainable Buildings Task Group, Code for Sustainable Homes Steering Group and the Egan Review of Skills for Sustainable Communities.- Text: Smaller | Larger
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