The UK Green Building Council has said the nation must continue to address climate change in the wake of the vote to leave the EU…
This morning the United Kingdom voted in favour of leaving the EU. The task must now begin to rebuild the nation and strengthen bonds with Europe and the global community.
It is natural that many organisation will now look to their own agendas and how the vote will impact them in the future. What is clear is the UK must continue to meet targets and step up to many of the challenges still facing our society.
In particular, climate change and sustainability remain a significant issue on both a UK scale and a global one. Voting to leave the EU must not erode commitments towards reducing carbon emissions and creating a greener building sector, nor should it.
With this in mind the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) has called on businesses and industry to keep addressing climate change challenges in the wake of the EU referendum vote.
Julie Hirigoyen, CEO of the UK Green Building Council, said: “Brexit is already sending shockwaves through the construction and property sector, the scale of which won’t be clear for some time. It will be a tough trading climate, that will impact companies both large and small.
“Both economic and political uncertainty will have some people asking whether the green agenda needs to be deprioritised while business goes into firefighting mode. This must and need not happen.
“The incentives remain strong for business to address climate change and other urgent sustainability challenges. Arguably now more than ever we need to minimise future risk, reduce costs, add value for clients, generate new commercial opportunities and ensure we have the best people working as productively as possible. A sustainable built environment is fundamental to these objectives.
“UK-GBC will redouble its support of the industry, make the business case for sustainability, and explore more deeply the commercial drivers for sustainability.
“We will encourage an unprecedented collaboration between progressive businesses, green groups and other trade bodies. We will take the argument to Government that a low carbon, sustainable built environment is good for UK Plc, and that this requires a clear and consistent policy landscape – in or out of the EU.”
In the wake of the vote it is natural organisations will begin to look at how the referendum will impact their own agendas, particularly in areas that impact European and global affairs.
