On Friday 12 November in Adelaide, Joint Group Managing Director Ross Donaldson presented a "Call for Action" on climate change to the Property Council of Australia. The Woods Bagot sponsored event attracted 165 attendees including Minister for the City of Adelaide, Hon Gail Gago MLC.
The "call" was for everyone associated with the property development industry to act on our collective responsibility to move cities towards zero Nett carbon and our environment away from its trajectory towards a climate change crisis.
The fundamental challenge is to achieve a zero net carbon economy globally by 2050, limiting the earth's temperature increase to less than 2°C and avoiding a climate change "tipping point". Cities account for half of the problem and therefore the challenge is ours.
To achieve this requires globally reducing our CO2 output by 50% per unit of GDP each decade between now and 2050.
Currently the only country in the world taking that seriously is China.
Here are some other interesting facts:
- By 2050 the average carbon footprint per person will need to come down to 2 tonnes.
- Currently Australian's average carbon footprint is 18 tonnes per annum per person!
- The current global CO2 output is 47 billion tonnes. It will need to be reduced to 35 billion by 2030 and 20 billion by 2050.
China currently generates 9 billion tonnes. If it continues on its current economic growth trajectory without reducing its emissions, it will produce 35 billion tonnes by 2030 and will account for the whole earth's quota for CO2. They have decided to act.
Most others have not and it is time our profession began to show more leadership than it has done.
To show that the challenge is not beyond us, Ross illustrated how buildings will be designed in the future, by showing Woods Bagot's ZERO-E computational and parametric modeling for zero emissions.
Tall buildings have always been symbolic of a city's economic and financial strength. Despite the economic woes that have plagued the world recently, tall building construction has proceeded at an unprecedented pace.
According to the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, 2010 will see over 100 buildings 200m or taller completed, with over half of these in the Asia Pacific and 30% in China alone.
However with the construction of so many tall buildings, there has been an increased scrutiny on their commercial and financial viability, not to mention the sustainability aspect in their construction. It has become increasingly important for architects, engineers and developers to create thriving communities within the Tall Building environment that incorporates the best in technological advances, engineering skill and commercial know-how in order to ensure that skyscrapers are sustainable both to the environment and to the people who live in them.