{"id":101499,"date":"2021-11-08T11:58:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T11:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=101499"},"modified":"2021-11-08T11:58:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T11:58:40","slug":"cop26-week-one-rundown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/cop26-week-one-rundown\/101499\/","title":{"rendered":"COP26 construction: A rundown of week one"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the first week of the COP26 summit<\/a> draws to a close and world leaders come together to tackle climate change head-on, we take a look at what week one of COP26 means for the future of the construction industry<\/h2>\n

The Clean Green Initiative<\/h3>\n

At the start of the week, prime minister Boris Johnson announced a major funding package to support the rollout of sustainable infrastructure<\/a> and revolutionary green technology in developing countries, helping to tackle climate change and boost economic growth.<\/p>\n

The \u00a33bn funding package will kickstart the UK\u2019s brand-new Clean Green Initiative (CGI), which aims to help to scale up public and private investment in quality, sustainable infrastructure globally.<\/p>\n

Alongside this, the UK has doubled its international climate finance of \u00a311.6bn over five years, with an extra \u00a31bn in 2025 if the economy grows as forecast, supporting developing nations to access clean technology and build green infrastructure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"COP26
Prime minister Boris Johnson speaking at the Forest event at the SEC, Glasgow. 02\/11\/2021. Photograph: Karwai Tang\/ UK Government<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Building back better and greener\u2019<\/h3>\n

Johnson said: \u201cI want to see the UK\u2019s Green Industrial Revolution go global. The pace of change on clean technology and infrastructure is incredible, but no country should be left behind in the race to save our planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate has often been a silent victim of economic growth and progress \u2013 but the opposite should now be true. Through the Clean Green Initiative, we can help to build back better and greener from the pandemic and put the world on the path to a more sustainable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has also pledged an \u2018India Green Guarantee\u2019 to the World Bank, to unlock an additional \u00a3750m ($1bn) for green projects across India.<\/p>\n

The funding aims to support clean and resilient infrastructure across the clean energy, transport, and urban development sectors \u2013 increasing sustainable infrastructure and green methods of construction globally.<\/p>\n

Commenting on this, foreign secretary Liz Truss, said:\u201d Developing countries need the right form of investment to help drive clean growth, whilst dealing with the impacts of climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunities are clear and this new initiative will enable us to seize them, working closely with our allies to deliver honest and responsible investment and cleaner and more reliable infrastructure in the developing world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Increasing the demand for sustainable materials<\/h3>\n

Later in the week, the PM announced an international plan to deliver clean and affordable energy everywhere by 2030.<\/p>\n

The first five goals, the \u2018Glasgow Breakthroughs\u2019 highlight over 50% of global emissions. One of the goals, to provide near-zero-emission steel in every region is highly significant for the construction sector.<\/p>\n

The construction industry is one of the biggest consumers of steel, accounting for more than 50% of the world\u2019s steel demand<\/a>. As the demand for new infrastructure increases each year, the importance of sustainable construction materials has never been more important as the built environment continues to grow.<\/p>\n

In order to ensure that sustainability demands are met, COP26 announced the \u2018First Movers Coalition<\/a>\u2019. A group of 25 US-led buyers have signed an agreement to make purchasing commitments to aid in the commercialisation of clean technologies.<\/p>\n

Focused across sectors such as steel, aluminium and concrete, these technologies include hydrogen direct reduction, carbon capture use and storage, and electrolysis-based production processes.<\/p>\n

Steel purchasers, in particular, have set a target that at least 10% of their annual steel procurement volumes by 2030 meet or exceed the First Movers Coalition definition for near-zero emissions.<\/p>\n

Through the Net Zero strategy the UK has pledged to bring down the costs of these technologies through investing billions of pounds of investment.<\/p>\n

Industry response to COP26<\/h3>\n

In conjunction with COP26, the CLC<\/a> released the names of five new \u2018carbon champions\u2019 that have been chosen to lead the UK construction industry to a goal of net zero<\/a>. The CO2nstructZero programme was released earlier this year to unify UK construction efforts to cut carbon.<\/p>\n

The CLC\u2019s new \u2018Business Champions\u2019 are:<\/h4>\n