Focus on Buildings at the COP21

The 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) is the 21st annual meeting of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including Ireland. The United Nations is working towards securing a legally binding global climate agreement on carbon emissions. In order to reach a universal agreement that is applicable to each nation, the 195 parties hold regular meetings to review implementation of the convention.

As part of the efforts to thwart climate change through sustainable development, the aim of the conference is to gather countries, cities, public entities, and private organisations in order to scale up the actions towards limiting the maximum temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels as committed to at COP16 in 2010 which took place in Cancun.

As buildings account for 32% of global final energy use, and the sector offers one of the most cost-effective and economically beneficial paths for reducing energy demand, this year’s COP21 climate negotiations in Paris will include a dedicated ‘Buildings Day’ for the first time to focus on strategies, policies and solutions to reduce carbon emissions from the building sector.

As the building sector grows with the needs of a rising global population, it becomes increasingly important to focus on climate action. Initiatives aim to double the rate of energy efficiency improvement and speed the adoption of best practices, to create safer working and living environments, and important reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the challenges of the Paris agreement will be to establish a method of recurrent review, to raise the ambition of each nation and progressively improve our collective efforts to curb climate change. Sustainability requires a new way of building, living, and working. In Ireland, the rise of sustainable design can be seen in the expansion of energy efficient design, and the use of Environmental Assessment Methodologies such as BREEAM and LEED.

To play our part in supporting a universal climate agreement at COP21 Varming Consulting Engineers have made our own climate commitment.

Consulting with the experts in sustainable engineering and smart building design can help to ensure that buildings are designed in a manner that helps minimise their environmental impact and meet the demands of the global climate initiative.