Deutsche Bank and Schneider Electric are among seven companies joining the latest wave of firms signing up to the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.
Signatories pledge to reduce their existing buildings’ energy consumption and eliminate emissions from energy and refrigerants “as fast as practicable” by 2030 and, by then, to make all new buildings highly efficient, powered by renewables with maximum reductions in embodied carbon.
The five other companies are CannonDesign, GI Quo Vadis, Grab, Lamington Group and QIC Real Estate.
The Commitment now has 169 signatories, including companies and organisations, whose combined property portfolios account for some 7.2 million (tCO2e) of portfolio emissions annually.
“We welcome Schneider Electric, a world leader in building services and technologies and Deutsche Bank, a significant asset owner, taking responsibility for their portfolio and beyond,” said Cristina Gamboa, the council’s chief executive.
“These companies are displaying industry leadership to decarbonise their assets further and faster, contributing to accelerated industry transformation in the race to zero.”
CannonDesign a US-based architecture and engineering firm, was listed on Fast Company’s 2019 World Changing Companies list, and had already committed to reducing its embodied carbon in half by this year, 80% by 2025, and 100% by 2030.
Eric Corey Freed, principal and sustainability director, said: “Ideally, all buildings across society should be net zero carbon today. We’re not there yet, but we need to make it happen rapidly. Becoming a signatory of the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment is a no brainer.”
