Code red

“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, oceans and land,” says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in a new report, which did not hold back naming the culprit – us.

The presentation of the report, an understated affair that could have been any Zoom meeting, told it plainly slide after slide: since 1970 global surface temperatures have risen faster than in any other 50-year period. Catastrophe can be avoided, say the scientists, if we combine forces and act fast. The built environment, specifically this profession, can play a leading role by catalysing the necessary change.

As we emerge from Covid-19, the way we manage and maintain our buildings can make a lasting contribution to carbon reduction. Workplace and facilities managers are the lynchpin in organisations to drive this transition.

This month we will publish the findings of our 14th sustainability survey. The results explore the post-Covid context, the contribution to net zero and, importantly, skills and capability. As the foreword acknowledges, the strong engagement with the piece by Institute members shows that action is needed, but it warns more widely that wanting it to happen and making it happen are not the same thing. Baseline data, clear objectives and a roadmap are all prerequisites to meaningful action.

We’ll be discussing the findings in the run-up to COP26 and using them to shape our own action plan and to develop tools to assist members to leverage their vital position on this agenda. Visit the IWFM sustainability hub for more information: tinyurl.com/sustain-hub.

Linda Hausmanis is CEO of the IWFM 

To read the full September/October 2021 edition, click here.