2024 - The Beginning of the End

As the dust settles on 2023, and the attention around #COP28 starts to wane, we begin a new year and a fresh drive to take more collective and positive steps forward for our planet in 2024. In the words of the COP28 presidency – we need to make this the year we #Unite, #Act and #Deliver!

With the COP28 text signaling #TheBeginningOfTheEndOfFossilFuels – I genuinely believe 2024 is the year that we will turn small steps into big steps and below are some of my key #COP takeaways to support this optimistic view.

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The Global Stocktake

I listened as findings from the first UN global stocktake, the assessment for countries and stakeholders to see where they are collectively making progress towards meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, were presented at COP28. It found the world is not on track to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, highlighting the urgent need for increased action from countries and businesses. This hopefully served as a wake-up call for the world, but in my view, it was invaluable that business leaders were there to hear these findings in person as the evidence presented clearly showed that we are not doing enough. I believe the findings were the catalyst for getting the phasing out of fossil fuels formally recognised in COP28’s final text.

With buildings responsible for around one-third of all energy demand, the real estate sector has a major role to play in this and must continue to implement clear plans that will transition our assets reliance on fossil fuels towards renewable energy - both in operation and across the wider value chain.

Buildings Breakthrough

Commitments made in the Buildings Breakthrough initiative were among those most directly related to real estate to come out of COP28. The UK, USA, China, Germany and many other leading economies, all agreed to make #NearZeroEmission and resilient buildings the new normal by 2030. This collective agreement - supported by dedicated initiatives for cement, concrete and timber - will reinforce existing and planned policy and drive forward more ambitious environmental policy around building development and refurbishment. I believe this will positively change the way our industry operates in the future and it is excellent to see these commitments being made, as previous COP summits have not managed to make such ambitious agreements.

Wider Highlights

The UAE raised the bar for the Gulf region by launching an industrial decarbonization roadmap – something I believe will act as a positive catalyst for change in a region heavily dependent on fossil fuels. The UAE also launched a Declaration for a Global Climate Finance Framework which will aim to mobilise private finance for climate action.

Finally, the world took positive steps forward on alignment for voluntary carbon markets. The ‘net’ in net zero will typically require investment in carbon removal but this has to be done in a just and credible way – COP28 made progress on this important subject, which in my view will allow the world to refine and develop longer term net zero roadmaps as we enter 2024.

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Despite the world continuing to warm, alongside continued biodiversity loss, I remain stubbornly optimistic that we will see positive momentum accelerate in 2024 and that we can use global initiatives like the #BuildingsBreakthroughAgenda to Unite, we can all take small steps to Act and we will start to see evidence in 2024 that we are collectively starting to Deliver a more #sustainable and #just world.