SOU-100 | FOSTERING COLLLECTIVE CLIMATE ACTION AND CITY RESILIENCE IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT - Africities The most important democratic gathering in Africa

Climate Sessions

SOU-100 | FOSTERING COLLLECTIVE CLIMATE ACTION AND CITY RESILIENCE IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

19 May

9:00 to 12:30

Venue: Room 19

LEAD ORGANIZER

United Cities and Local Governments of Africa

Tel: +212(0)537 260 062

Email: info@uclga.org

Web: https://www.uclga.org/

PRESENTATION OF THE SESSION

WORLD GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL

The benefits to the built environment of buildings and infrastructure that is resilient, in line with our common climate goals, and that meets the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals are significant and support the goals of a sustainable built environment for everyone, everywhere. 80% of the built environment that will exist in Africa in 2050 is yet to be built. More than 80% of that growth will occur in cities especially informal settlements. Yet; according to WorldGBC Annual Report 2021; Under $3 of every $100 spent on new construction goes to efficient buildings and efficient buildings are an investment opportunity worth around $24.7 trillion by 2030. Cities and human settlements are facing major climate-related challenges yet there are direct climate action implementation strategies that can be adopted at community and city scale. The session will specifically focus on activities that can be adopted and implemented immediately to foster resilience to the repercussions of climate change. With buildings being responsible for 39% of global carbon emissions, and 50% of global material use The issues to be addressed as prioritized in the World Green Building Council Africa Regional Network manifesto are resilience, urban planning, water use, CO2 emissions, resources and circularity, health and wellbeing, biodiversity, smart cities, sustainable finance and just transition. These issues will be addressed to suit local contextualization and climatic effects with associated strategies and targets debated in comparison to global, continental and national roadmaps where they exist. The objectives include: Awareness and adoption of the built environment as part of the solution towards climate action; the built environment - both buildings and infrastructure - must be on a clear path to decarbonise by 2050 and have made significant progress by 2030. Despite leadership in many areas, the overall built environment sector demands clear climate and sustainability targets, frameworks, and methodologies for all asset types, in all places. In many of the places most in need of infrastructure investment, the governance and delivery of projects needs greater alignment with climate and sustainability targets. The whole built environment needs a narrative for collective cities action. Action: The inclusion of aligned principles in public pr ocurement, investor frameworks and the built environment industry for the delivery of all built assets The session will set clear signals of aligned collaborative action on the built environment in cities. This will be augmented with partnerships and opportunity to leverage the outcomes in the forthcoming COP27. The session will culminate with a common framework of principles for accelerating sustainability performance, to be adapted and verified at the local level, that aligns to the 1.5° emissions trajectory and the UN SDGs, applicable to all geographies at different levels.

Climate Sessions