Not All Sustainability Decisions Are Tough Ones

Extreme weather events seem to be more frequent. Meanwhile, according to NASA, polar ice caps are melting at a rate of 9% per year and the thickness of Arctic ice has decreased by 40% since the 1960s.

We’re well past the point where there’s a serious debate about whether or not climate change is happening and whether it’s driven by human activity. Our preoccupation now should be how we avoid the climate becoming broken beyond repair.

Avoiding climate catastrophe will involve some difficult choices. These could affect where we live, where we work, how we travel and even what we eat. For example, the Grantham Institute calculated that a one way journey between London and Amsterdam generated 3Kg of CO2 by rail compared to 58 Kg by air. Does unrestricted air travel have a sustainable future?

Construction Has Some Easier Choices to Make

In other areas of the economy the choices should be simpler. Construction is one of those areas. There’s no mystery about how to create more energy-efficient buildings and how to decarbonise existing stock.

With modern methods of construction, net zero carbon doesn’t have to come with a significant cost penalty. All that’s really needed is a change of mindset and modified procurement policies and priorities.

We also have proven methods that will bring existing homes, schools and commercial buildings up to net zero carbon performance levels. As these are scaled up they will become even more affordable. And if we’re talking about difficult choices, what could be more difficult than ‘heat or eat’? Zero carbon retrofits will save many people having to make that choice.

If we’re looking for ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere, a really effective option is to grow trees. When you lock up this carbon as structural timber within a building it’s going nowhere. Specifying materials and methods that have effectively negative levels of embodied carbon should be one of the most straightforward decisions to make.

The built environment accounts for 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions. Osborne is fully committed to sustainable development that ensures we play our full part in reducing that impact.

For more information about Osborne’s approach to sustainability and net zero contact Richard King ([email protected]).