From: https://www.c40.org/press_releases/clean-construction-declaration-launch
" (24 November 2020) - Today, the mayors of Oslo, Los Angeles, Mexico City and Budapest have pledged to halve emissions from all construction activities in their cities by 2030 , in collaboration with leading companies and innovative business communities.
Through the targets in C40’s Clean Construction Declaration, mayors pledge to revolutionise the global construction industry and shift it towards a more sustainable future, to achieve “a thriving, resilient and healthy life for everyone in our cities, especially our most vulnerable communities.”
The construction industry in its current form is responsible for more than 23% of the world’s GHG emissions and 30% of global resource consumption. If the construction industry continues to take a business as usual approach, the world is on track for a global temperature increase of 3°C.
The Declaration sets bold, ambitious targets to develop the net-zero emission buildings and infrastructure of the future by:
- Reducing embodied emissions by at least 50% for all new buildings and retrofits by 2030
- Reducing embodied emissions by at least 50% of all infrastructure projects by 2030
- Procuring and when possible using only zero emission construction machinery from 2025
Recognising that cities cannot tackle the climate crisis alone, the Declaration places the circular economy as its core and calls for innovation and collaboration across cities, businesses, regional, national and supranational government and industry.
The Declaration commits cities to repurposing and retrofitting building stock to make better use of the buildings and infrastructure that currently exist, which also has huge potential to create new green jobs. Retrofitting reduces the need for raw building materials that have a high carbon footprint — concrete production alone is responsible for 8% of the world’s GHG emissions.
The mayors also commit to lead by example on clean construction, using their purchasing power and normalising the use of zero emission construction machinery, and demanding transparency and accountability in their supply chains. They aim to achieve this by embedding clean construction policies into design and planning, procurement and contracting processes, as well as building codes.
Finally, by signing the Declaration, mayors promise to approve at least one net-zero emission flagship construction project by 2025 and to produce annual reports on their progress.
more info:
https://www.c40.org/clean-construction-declaration