WorldGBC - Global Update (Sep 2019)

Dear GBCs and Partners
 
Welcome to the September edition of the Global Update newsletter.
 
Last week we held our first virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) for our member Green Building Councils and I wish to thank those who attended for your participation, input and feedback.
 
During the AGM, WorldGBC presented the draft proposal for our green building movement’s next three year strategy. These ideas will be discussed fully in the upcoming meetings for the Established GBC CEO Network, WorldGBC Board and Corporate Advisory Board in New York City later this month; during World Green Building Week and Climate Week NYC.
 
You can now find the minutes and presentation from the meeting on Basecamp within the Docs & Files section of the Members' Area.
 
We welcome feedback on the material presented during the AGM to help better inform our three year strategy commencing in 2020, to ensure we work together effectively to advance our collective mission to achieve green buildings for everyone, everywhere. Please email me at cgamboa@worldgbc.org and I look forward to hearing from you.
 
Best wishes
 
 
 
Cristina Gamboa, CEO, World Green Building Council

It's nearly here – World Green Building Week 2019 is just around the corner! Taking place from 23-29 September, don't miss your chance to get involved in the the biggest week of the year for green building. This year, the week is centred around reducing carbon emissions from the whole building lifecycle under the banner #BuildingLife. Find out what's happening in your area on our Global Activity Map. Want to see your activities and events listed on the map? Add them here. Download the campaign resources including a "how to get involved" guide, social media cards, animations, web banner and much more. Take a photo with our #BuildingLife pledge sign and tell us what steps you'll take to build a better future. Still unsure how to get involved? We're hosting two webinars on Tuesday 11 September explaining how your GBC or organisation can engage in the week. For more information, contact Georgie Eldridge – geldridge@worldgbc.org

There's still time to complete the WorldGBC Member Value Survey before it formally closes on Friday 20 September. The Member Value Survey enables WorldGBC to continuously improve and refine our business, to create opportunity for GBCs and to positively impact the movement. The survey is also one of the main sources used to identify trends across the regions, to demonstrate our collective impact and to collect and share information on activities of GBCs. This is your opportunity to provide feedback. The survey, which opened on Monday 26 August, covers everything from membership benefits to advancing green building in your market. The CEO (for Established and Emerging GBCs) and Chairs (for Prospective) should have received a link to the member value survey. Please contact your regional head or WorldGBC's research manager Helen Bell if you have any questions about the survey – hbell@worldgbc.org

Last week, WorldGBC's Americas Regional Network held a successful second workshop for the Cities Climate Action Project in Bogotá, Colombia. The workshop brought together more than 40 representatives from several member cities of the Building Efficiency Accelerator (BEA) programme and C40 cities such as Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Santiago de Chile among others to discuss strategies to accelerate city scale action on green buildings from energy efficiency to net zero carbon buildings. Participants learned about approaches to improving energy efficiency in buildings by identifying actions, replicable models and implementation strategies for structuring public policies at a city scale. The workshop helped facilitate dialogue and multi-sectoral collaboration between municipal authorities from different countries with GBCs, the private sector and international organisations to build shared goals and roadmaps towards a net zero carbon future. For more information, contact Juanita Alvarez – jalvarez@worldgbc.org

In August New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC) released a report exploring the impact that constructing new buildings will have on national carbon reduction targets. The report suggests that constructing and renovating New Zealand buildings between now and 2050 could pump out climate change pollution equivalent to one million cars on the road every year, and calls on New Zealand's government to take a lead on decarbonising the nation's buildings. To read the report, click here. NZGBC’s report is released just weeks before WorldGBC will publish a call to action report setting out a pathway to completely eliminate embodied carbon from building and construction, in line with WorldGBC’s Advancing Net Zero global project. The report will be published on 23 September to mark the start of World Green Building Week. An embargoed pre–release version of the report has been shared with GBCs on Basecamp and a press pack to accompany the report will be shared ahead of the launch. For more information, contact Victoria Burrows – vburrows@worldgbc.org

There's still time to submit case studies of exemplary green buildings to feature in our upcoming case study library – submissions close on 30 September. The case study library will be a resource to showcase the ‘best in class’ buildings globally that demonstrate enhanced performance in relation to health benefits and net zero operational carbon; as verified by established certification schemes, rating tools or other verification systems. We invite all member GBCs and partners to submit case studies, with additional input for those participating in WorldGBC’s global projects Advancing Net Zero and Better Places for People and we welcome GBCs to invite their members to participate. The first round of case study submissions can be made through the interactive form here. Following the launch at the end of 2019, applications for further case studies will re-open. For more information, contact Catriona Brady – cbrady@worldgbc.org or Victoria Burrows – vburrows@worldgbc.org

On 12-13 September WorldGBC is delighted to be a Supporting Partner for Cities to Be, hosted by Alliance HQE-GBC in Angers, France. Held alongside WorldGBC's Europe Regional Network meeting, Europe Director James Drinkwater will discuss how the construction industry must step up collaboration to help reach carbon neutrality and a less than 2 degrees trajectory. For more information, visit the Cities to Be website. On 24 September during World Green Building Week, we'll be in Brussels, Belgium to launch the embodied carbon report with European stakeholders. On 25 September, we'll be co-hosting an event Achieving Net Zero Embodied Carbon with Skanska in New York City as part of Climate Week NYC to discuss the findings from WorldGBC's embodied carbon report. On Friday 27 September we'll be co-hosting an event Activating Local Solutions to Global Climate Targets with Urban Green Council. Find out more here or visit our calendar. For more information about events or to book a speaker, contact Georgie Eldridge – geldridge@worldgbc.org