Building council challenges sector to deliver 50% CO2 cuts by 2020

The UK Green Building Council is calling on the real estate industry to slash its carbon emissions by 50% between now and 2020. In a speech to the body's annual conference on Tuesday, UK Green Building Council CEO Paul King urged the industry to recognise the role it can play in reaching UK targets for carbon cuts by 2020.

Although the Climate Change Act sets out a target of 34% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020, many scientists and pressure groups are now calling for 40% reductions. For that to be achieved, the built environment would have to take on a larger share of the burden.

His call is supported by the UK's biggest construction company Balfour Beatty and by international developers LendLease.

'We drastically need to cut emissions from all sectors, but the built environment offers the best cost-effective opportunity to do that,' said Paul King. 'We have the technology and the know-how in the industry, but we haven't managed to mainstream these yet. I do not underestimate the size of the challenge, but I believe that by working together with government, industry and building occupiers, we can deliver cuts of 50% by 2020.'

Buildings use more than one third of the world's energy and in most countries the built environment is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. In the UK, buildings are responsible for 44% of CO2 emissions: 26% of the UK's emissions come from homes, 18% from non-residential buildings.