Posts in the 'Built Environment' category
In her speech before the United Nations in September 2019, Greta Thunberg called out the assembled world leaders for their stubborn adherence to the status quo in the face of an escalating climate crisis. “How dare you pretend that this ...
India is ground zero for extreme heat. More than 6,100 people have died from heat events since 2010. Half of the country reeled under severe heat waves this summer, when temperatures reached over 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places. The urban ...
China is in the midst of a construction mega-boom. The country has the largest buildings market in the world, making up 20% of all construction investment globally. And it’s only set to grow: China is expected to spend nearly $13 trillion on buildings by 2030. This ...
A city without buildings is simply not a city. And yet when it comes to climate action, buildings tend to take a back seat to transport, energy production and industry. Making buildings more energy-efficient is the cheapest way to reduce ...
Cities in the global south today face a complex challenge: like all cities, they need to reduce carbon emissions, but they also need to expand access to energy. Around the world, 1.1 billion people currently lack access to electric cooling ...
Building efficiency is one of the most effective and affordable solutions for addressing climate change and capping carbon emissions. Yet it is so often drowned by discussions of electric vehicles and solar panels. Given that better buildings are a great ...
TheCityFix Labs India, launched in Hyderabad on October 8 in partnership with the Financing Sustainable Cities Initiative and Citi Foundation, is focused on finding innovative ways to connect India’s rapidly growing urban areas with basic services, like water, waste management and ...
About 3 billion people, or 40 percent of the world’s population, will need new housing by 2030. That will require constructing approximately 21 million new homes every year across the world. Several of the fastest-growing countries have ambitious goals to ...
The time has never been better – or more critical – for spurring a global building efficiency movement. Building efficiency is one of the most effective near-term opportunities for achieving climate and energy goals. Better efficiency policies for new and ...
“Back in the good old days, the construction industry had to worry about a few keys things: Will it stand up, is it functional and does it look nice? Not so anymore.” So began WRI President and CEO Andrew Steer ...
Persuading people to use energy more efficiently has long been heralded as a simple, effective way to help tackle climate change. The problem lies in the persuasion. Historically, policies and programs to encourage people to save energy have relied largely ...
How can businesses provide more value to, and receive more value from, collaborative initiatives with cities? Businesses are the ones that design, build, finance, own, operate, renovate and occupy most of the buildings in cities. Without active collaboration and support ...
Energy efficiency’s image is due for a makeover. Long seen as one of the simplest ways to reduce consumer costs, energy efficiency also offers multiple benefits that improve people’s lives while cutting air pollution and curbing climate-warming emissions. And yet, ...
In 2013, the world’s cities accounted for 64 percent of primary energy use and 70 percent of CO2 emissions. Energy use in buildings is the second largest contributor (after transport) to urban GHG emissions and to urban heat islands. Emissions ...
As countries around the world ramp up ambition toward global climate and development goals, Bogotá’s experience is an example of why they should look to cities for “ground-truthing.” At 8,600 feet above sea level, high on an Andean plateau, Bogotá is Colombia’s largest city and one ...
