The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) welcomes five new additions to its Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment: Deloitte, Hibernia REIT plc, Lloyds Banking Group, MACE, and Watkins Payne Partnership.

LONDON – 9am GMT, 29 April 2021 – Today, WorldGBC announces five new organisations as signatories to its Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (the Commitment), signalling global industry leadership to decarbonise the built environment and combat climate change.

The Commitment now has a total of 138 signatories, with 104 businesses & organisations, 28 cities and 6 states & regions. The businesses and organisations signed up to the Commitment now account for over 5.1 million (tCO2e) of portfolio emissions.

The support and ambition from companies such as these is crucial as WorldGBC and the organising coalition build momentum to a historic ‘Cities and Built Environment Day’ at COP26. As frontrunners in the Race to Zero, Commitment signatories are going further and faster to tackle operational emissions from their real estate assets, stimulating the innovative approaches, solutions and business models necessary for the entire sector to reach 2050 goals.

 

Deloitte is a leading global provider of audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory and tax, and related services. During its 175-year history, the organisation has grown tremendously in both scale and capabilities yet, the shared culture and mission of Deloitte — to make an impact that matters — remains unchanged. This is evident not only in the organisation’s work for clients, but also through their WorldClass, WorldClimate, and ALL IN diversity and inclusion strategies.

Deloitte has committed to having all real estate assets within its  global portfolio operate at net zero carbon by 2030. Moreover, they will advocate and accelerate the net zero transition both through their WorldClimate strategy and their firms’ client work. Deloitte will implement its “Better Buildings” real estate decarbonisation roadmap, which includes: right-sizing offices at lease events, refurbishing office spaces considering energy efficiency and wider sustainability performance, closely managing operational energy consumption, and procuring 100% renewable electricity. You can read more about Deloitte’s climate commitments here.

 

Hibernia REIT plc is an Irish real estate investment trust, with a property portfolio of c.€1.4bn. Its mission is to improve the built environment, whilst providing long term returns for shareholders and benefits to all stakeholders. Hibernia REIT has committed to only owning and developing net zero operational carbon assets by 2030; reducing carbon emissions from owned and developed assets and establishing an internal carbon pricing mechanism to help fund carbon reduction measures. It will also advocate for market transformation towards net zero utilising different means that target supply chain, customers and tenants. Hibernia REIT recently launched its Sustainability Statement of Intent, which sets out its targets to 2030, and can be read here.

 

Lloyds Banking Group is a leading UK based financial services group providing a wide range of banking, insurance and financial services. By becoming a signatory, Lloyds  have committed to only owning and occupying net zero carbon operational assets by 2030, and to advocate for industry-wide transformation to help reduce the emissions they finance by more than 50% by 2030. They will also continue to activate businesses to invest in tackling climate change through their Clean Growth Finance Initiative. The group plans to decarbonise all owned and occupied buildings, improve energy efficiency, and continue to only procure renewable electricity, therefore reducing total energy consumption by 50% by 2030 (baseline 2018/2019). Find out more about Lloyds Banking Group’s operational climate pledges here.

 

Mace is a global consultancy and construction firm whose mission is to lead the way to a more connected, resilient and sustainable built environment. In addition to its commitment to maintain its 2020 achievement of net zero carbon business status, Mace has also committed to reduce its corporate carbon footprint by 10% each year from 2021-2026. Additionally, it will deliver 1 million tonnes of client carbon savings and create 500 hectares of biodiversity net gain.

 

Watkins Payne Partnership (WPP) provides building consultancy services. They have a growing sustainability specialism as a registered Design for Performance delivery partner, with an aim to reduce in-use carbon. WPP has committed to only occupying assets that are net zero carbon in operation by 2030 and will advocate for industry transformation by actively encouraging clients towards net zero carbon projects, and by continuing to undertake whole life carbon assessments. To achieve their targets, they will implement a carbon reduction strategy for all occupied assets, prioritising the pursuit of energy efficiency, working towards sourcing 100% certified renewable energy and offsetting the remainder.

 

As the leading initiative focused on climate action in the built environment, the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment continues to grow exponentially. Complementing initiatives such as the Race to Zero and Science Based Targets, the Commitment’s signatories take action to achieve an operationally net zero carbon portfolio by 2030 or earlier, and demonstrate annual progress via reporting and verification protocols. For eligible signatories, the Commitment acts as a pathway to membership of the global EP100 initiative from the Climate Group, bringing together energy-smart companies doing more with less energy to lower emissions and improve their productivity.

 

Cristina Gamboa, CEO of the World Green Building Council:

It is fantastic to see stakeholders from across the built environment sector joining the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment. It is important that we gather support from across the value chain and come together in a collaborative manner to decarbonise our buildings. This is a crucial year for action. WorldGBC and our partners are working to ensure that buildings take centre stage at COP26 through the ‘Cities and Built Environment Day’, where the leadership of Commitment signatories will be front and centre.

Mike Peirce, Corporate Partnerships Director, the Climate Group:

This is the Climate Decade – science shows we need to move fast to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. 40% of greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings and, if left unchecked, they’re set to double by 2050. Big business has a vital role to play in cleaning up the built environment, and improving energy efficiency is key. We welcome today’s new signatories, and those joining the global EP100 initiative for energy-smart companies. We encourage more businesses to follow suit.

Fiona Cannon, Group Sustainable Business Director, Lloyds Banking Group:

Reducing the carbon footprint of our own operations is an important part of our sustainability strategy. We will invest in low carbon branches and offices in communities across the UK, as part of our focus to Help Britain Recover.

Kathryn Alsegaf, Internal Sustainability Leader, Deloitte Global:

Deloitte believes the business community has a crucial role to play by taking measurable and decisive actions to mitigate the impacts of climate change on society, which is why we are pleased to join the WorldGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment. By taking collective action and collaborating with WorldGBC, the Climate Group, as well as our people, Deloitte clients, and wider communities we can advance our commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and support efforts to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Mark Reynolds, CEO, MACE:

We’re excited to sign up to the WorldGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment. Pursuing a sustainable world is a priority objective for us in our business plan, and the Commitment provides a great framework for our own buildings, and also helps us to raise standards across our global client base – supporting them to go further with their carbon ambitions.

Neil Menzies, Sustainability Manager, Hibernia REIT plc:

Hibernia is taking action on climate change and has committed to becoming a net zero carbon business by 2030 in line with the growing expectations of our stakeholders. To strengthen our commitment we have decided to sign up to the WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment, joining like-minded organisations to drive the agenda collaboratively.

Andrew Thrower, Partner,  Watkins Payne Partnership:

Watkins Payne recognises that all sectors of the economy must achieve significant carbon reductions to meet the UK’s net zero emissions target. As part of an ongoing commitment to reduce our practice carbon emissions, together with those of others through low energy design solutions and prompting Design for Performance linked to the NABERS UK scheme, we are pleased to be joining the WorldGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment to contribute to our internal sustainability strategy in promoting advanced climate leadership as we work towards decarbonising the built environment.

 

 

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MEDIA CONTACT

Rebecca Moir, Digital Marketing Coordinator, World Green Building Council, media@worldgbc.org

Editor’s Notes

The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment comes from Advancing Net Zero, WorldGBC’s global project to accelerate uptake of net zero carbon buildings to 100% by 2050. The project works with the global Green Building Council network to develop tools and resources, including net zero carbon buildings certification schemes and training programmes.

The Commitment was launched in September 2018 at the Global Climate Action Summit. It promotes and inspires leadership action on an advanced trajectory from business, governments and NGOs, to scale up responses to net zero carbon buildings through corporate and policy action.

See the full profiles of company signatories and what they are committing to here: https://worldgbc.org/commitment-signatories

About the World Green Building Council

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) catalyses the uptake of sustainable buildings for everyone, everywhere.

Transforming the building and construction sector across three strategic areas—climate action, health & wellbeing, and resources & circularity—we are a global action network comprised of around 70 Green Building Councils around the globe.

As members of the UN Global Compact, we work with businesses, organisations and governments to drive the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Through a systems change approach, our network is leading the industry towards a net zero carbon, healthy, equitable and resilient built environment.

www.worldgbc.org

About EP100

EP100 is a global initiative by the Climate Group, bringing together a growing group of energy-smart companies committed to doing more with less to improve their energy productivity. Members are driving tech innovation and reducing emissions while making substantial cost savings and improving competitiveness – inspiring others to follow their lead. EP100 is delivered in partnership with the Alliance to Save Energy and in association with the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment. #EP100

Signatories of the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment also include leading state and regional governments in the Under2 Coalition, of which the Climate Group is Secretariat.