The crisis of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are two of the most serious issues of our time. Buildings and construction play a major part, accounting for nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having a significant impact on our natural habitats.
For everyone working in the construction industry, meeting the needs of our society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries will demand a paradigm shift in our behaviour. Together with our clients, we will need to commission, design and maintain buildings, cities and infrastructures as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining system in balance with the natural world.
The research, expertise and design solutions exist for us to begin that transformation now, but what has been lacking is collective will. Recognising this, we are committing to strengthen our working practices to create building services engineering outcomes that have more positive impact on the world around us.
We will seek to:
We hope that every building services engineering practice operating in the UK will join us in making this commitment.
Note – this is a member-led declaration independent from CIBSE. For information related to CIBSE activities and opportunities for member engagement on climate change, see the CIBSE web site www.cibse.org. In addition, there are two related UK engineering declarations on line. Please visit www.structuralengineersdeclare.com and www.civilengineersdeclare.com. You can also visit www.builtenvironmentdeclares.c... to learn how to set up a declaration in another country or sector.
Resources: The Climate Framework is a curriculum framework as well as a shared platform for holistic climate knowledge in all disciplines of the built environment.
To sign, practices must provide the email address for their CEO, Chairperson or appropriate Board Member. Approval will be sought via this email before the company name is added to the declaration.
Signatures: