Race to Zero: Decarbonising the Building and Construction Sector

Building and construction is a key sector for sustainable recovery. Smith School working paper listed it among ‘preferred targets for fiscal measures to ensure ‘green’ post-COVID recovery’ (https://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/publications/wpapers/workingpaper20-02.pdf). Building and construction accounts for 30% of global energy use and 39% of global energy-related CO2 emissions. ‘Greener’ construction makes business sense: -15% operational costs, reduced ROI time, +10% asset value, lower bills, improved compliance, among others.

Learn more about the decarbonization of building and construction sector with:

Dr Mathew Hampshire-Waugh, UCL alumnus and author of Climate Change and the Road to Net Zero [10 min]

• The footprint of global construction
• Ongoing emissions from buildings in a peak population, peak comfort world
• Levelised (buying and running) cost of heating, lighting, and cooking in a net-zero future.
• Hurdles to action and required change
• Personal decarbonisation actions to reduce my families' emissions by 60%

Dr Jan Rosenow, Oxford alumnus and Director, European Programmes, Regulatory Assistance Project [10 min]

• The pathway to net zero and which technologies will be key in the building sector
• Required policies and regulations to drive change art a much faster rate than before
• Examples of leading countries across the world in this area
• Personal experience reducing emissions from my home by 75%

James Macnaghten, Cambridge alumnus and CEO at Caldera (heat batteries) [10 min]

• How the UK energy system will change over the next 10 years  
• Heat Batteries – what they are and why they are important  

Olga Krylova, Oxford alumna (ECI ECM), OxCAN Regional Climate Action Director for Europe and Sustainability and Marketing Manager, metals and mining [5 min]

• Decarbonization of building and construction through materials with lower carbon footprint
• Case of low-carbon aluminium to reduce embodied emissions of building

Interventions will be followed by 15 min Q&A using chat/voice from the attending participants. You can also share questions ahead of the webinar by emailing info@oxfordclimatealumni.com

About The Event

Race to Zero: building and construction webinar aims to highlight options for leveraging building and construction sector to contribute to achieving national decarbonization targets in Europe. Some of these options are linked to increasing transparency of disclosures, upping the share of low-carbon materials, using more efficient technologies (retrofits, digital).

One of the cases is the recent confirmation by the UK Government of the Future Homes Standard that will apply to any new homes built from 2025: (i) no fossil-fired boilers, (ii) -75-80% greenhouse gas emissions vs current standards, etc. This is an important regulatory support to decarbonisation and low-carbon materials need to be part of it as they are critical for the ‘green’ building and construction.