Tina Paillet
President, Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
The United Nations estimates that the global built environment generates 40% of energy-related carbon emissions, urging significant reductions to mitigate climate crisis effects.
The world population is predicted to reach almost 10 billion by 2050, and we’re constructing building floorspace equivalent to the whole of Paris every week.
Reducing built environment carbon output
With any goals, you need the proper tools to measure progress and make informed plans and, for this aim, the means to measure and comprehensively count carbon. As a leading body representing the global built environment, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) developed the Whole Life Carbon Assessment for the Built Environment (WLCA).
Initially launched in 2017, WLCA’s first edition was a groundbreaking standard for the built environment, taking a holistic and long-term approach to measuring carbon output in building projects.
Assessing carbon emissions does not end with constructors completing their projects and downing tools, as this only produces a fraction of a building’s total environmental impact. The second edition of WLCA, launched in late 2023 and promoted at COP28, was extended to cover all buildings and infrastructure throughout the built environment life cycle. It is a global standard tackling a global problem.
We need to decarbonise, across the
life cycle, at pace and in an equitable
way, ensuring a just transition.
Commitment to decarbonisation and guidance
In March, RICS presented WLCA to the ministers of the 70 countries at the inaugural Buildings and Climate Global Forum (BCGF) in Paris. Arranged by the French Government and the UNEP/Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, the forum continued much-needed momentum on decarbonising buildings with a series of shared commitments on standards and regulations.
There was unanimous agreement that the mission is clear: we need to decarbonise, across the life cycle, at pace and in an equitable way, ensuring a just transition.
RICS was proud to be part of the week and to have joined the whole life carbon policy coalition led by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. To coincide with it, we launched a suite of supporting guidance for governments and investors on implementing WLCA.
We will continue to work with industry and coalition members to get to a unifying framework for consistent measurements of whole life carbon across the built environment and to highlight the role of our members being the trusted professionals who can help clients — be they businesses or governments — measure and reduce carbon emissions across the life cycle of their portfolios.