A view from the Summit: “We have the power”

“We have the power.”

That was the theme for this year’s Austrian World Summit organized by the Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative, one of the world’s most prominent climate conferences.?

“We have the power” is a reminder that we already have the tools we need to shape the future we want.?

Particularly in #building, we can build cities from cities and decarbonize our entire industry. We have the power to build low-carbon and circular today, to deliver a sustainable future for people and the planet.?

That work begins with cities. They hold the key to tackling climate successfully, as they account for more than 70% of global CO? emissions [source: World Bank]. It was particularly apt that the summit took place in Vienna, one of the world’s most forward-thinking cities when it comes to #decarbonization. Vienna launched its first Climate Protection Programme back in 1999; today, the city’s carbon footprint is nearly 40% smaller as a result [source]. But Vienna’s ambition didn’t stop there. In 2020, the city set itself a target to become carbon-neutral by 2040 [source].

Vienna is home to the Bildungscampus Seestadt, a school that is almost entirely self-sufficient when it comes to its energy needs. It has Holcim’s low-carbon materials inside and it uses concrete‘s thermal activation properties to serve as a battery to store and release heat when the building needs it. By making buildings like this school sustainable by design, we can fast-track the shift to a net-zero future, building the world we want our children to live in.?

Another lever Vienna is employing in its journey towards decarbonization is the circular economy.?

At the Austrian World Summit, we launched ECOPlanet RC, one of our most advanced circular and low-carbon cement solutions. What makes ECOPlanet RC unique is that it contains more than 25% ECOCycle? recycled construction demolition materials and binds additional CO? directly into the recycling material via an innovative "Rapid Carb" process.

Circularity underscores everything we do at 拉法基 . It’s what drove us to develop Susteno, the world’s first cement containing 20% recycled construction and demolition materials. This year we broke new ground with the world’s first fully recycled concrete building now under construction in France [source: Holcim]. It was made possible thanks to ECOCycle?, Holcim's proprietary circular technology platform to recycle construction demolition materials into new building solutions.??

Driving low-carbon and circular #construction requires deep collaboration across the value chain. At the summit in Vienna, I joined a panel discussion alongside Austrian Federal Minister for Climate Action Leonore Gewessler , BMW Vice President of Sustainability and Mobility Thomas Becker, Clean Cities Campaign Director Barbara S. and Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy Director Ke Wang to explore how different sectors are putting circular economy strategies into action.??

By 2050, more than two out of three people worldwide will live in cities [source: UN], and every month the world will have to build the equivalent of an entire New York City to accommodate this growth.?

This is a major challenge, but it also presents us with a major opportunity to shape the future. Remember: “We have the power.” Let’s use it to build progress for people and the planet.

Holcim ?sterreich Arnold Schwarzenegger Berthold Kren #AustrianWorldSummit #AWS #HolcimatAWS #ClimateAction #Sustainability #Innovation