What does Climate Action mean to us – Part 1 of 3: Why we formed a Climate Action Committee.
Dear Fellow Constructors
What does Climate Action mean to us – Part 1 of 3: Why we formed a Climate Action Committee.
We just launched our new Climate Action Webpages. We’re very pleased about this, as you might have seen on social media and recent correspondence.
But what’s the big deal about a few webpages? – and what does climate action really mean to a Livery Company and its members anyway!? – Fellow Constructors, it’s what these pages represent that should make us proud to be Constructors. It’s precisely because these webpages, and what they stand for has the potential to enable us to help fix the challenge of our time. That’s why we’re shouting about these pages and the Climate Action Committee.
For context, and according to the World Green Building Council, construction and the built environment accounts for almost 40% of global CO2 emissions and makes a significant contribution to the Climate and Biodiversity Crises which is further highlighted in the WWF Living Planet Report 2020
In January 2021 a number of Constructors attended a City of London Liveries event chaired by Alderman and Sheriff Alison Gowman, to explore the needs and opportunities of addressing the Climate and Biodiversity Emergencies relative to the City of London Climate Action Strategy It was then that we decided to take action and seriously engage with this agenda, and that’s what we did. The attending Constructors and Court members elected to establish a Climate Action Committee with Liveryman and Court Assistant Martin Gettings voted in as Chair.
Throughout 2021 we established our core Climate Action Committee, participating in the Liveries Climate Action Group, and to underscore our commitment to address these challenges, we have joined forces with UK Contractors to Declare a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency. In doing so we are the first Livery Company to make such a declaration, a call very much in alignment with our very own Livery Oath; to raise awareness, advocate improvements, support our customers, suppliers and each other in achieving our Goals, share knowledge, promote science, research and development, indeed there are many synergies with our own constitution. It’s a declaration that’s right for us, and we passionately believe that the Constructors and the Built Environment are equally built for Making Sustainability Real!
We join a global movement of Architects, Designers, Consultants, and other built environment professionals who stand together to address this seemingly insurmountable but non-the-less science-based challenge. And let’s not be under any illusions here, it really is a massive challenge, requiring far more than making big commitments no matter how sincere or ‘externally verified’ they are.
We will need to use all the powers and influence at our disposal; to collaborate; to innovate, to diversify; to involve; to include; to challenge; to lead; to do whatever we need to do, to deliver this immense project called global sustainability!!
Please do get in touch with climateaction@constructorscompany.co.uk if you want to find out more, get involved, and be part of something that is genuinely making a difference.
Next time – Imagine if we could make sustainability real.
With Very Best Regards
Martin Gettings and the Climate Action Committee
The Worshipful Company of Constructors
