Australian builders and planners declare a climate emergency

Posted on by Mik Aidt

In a world first, Australian builders have joined architects in publicly acknowledging that we are in a climate emergency, and that business as usual cannot continue if we want a prosperous future for our children and natural environment.

“The time is now for professionals in the construction industry to take a stand on climate change or get left behind,” wrote The Green Building Institute on 18 June 2020.

“The twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are the most serious issue of our generation. Globally, buildings and construction play a major role in our planet’s degradation, accounting for nearly 40% of (CO2) emissions, while also having a major impact on resource depletion, pollution levels, and the damage of our natural environments.

Addtionally, most Australian homes are well below first world standards globally, and consume far too much energy to heat and cool. It’s time we were much more considerate of our construction practices and lifted our standards.”

Builders Declare has been inspired by Australian architects who have united under the banner of Australian Architects Declare and are striving for urgent action to address our climate and biodiversity emergencies.

The founding signatories are Aligned Building, Sustainable Homes Melbourne, Granted Construction, Positive Footprints, Michael Limb Builders, Sanctum Homes, G-Lux Builders, RICCON Development & Construction, Green Building Institute, and Green Crisp Homes.

→ Sign up on www.au.buildersdeclare.com

→ Join the Facebook group

→ Jump on the Instagram: www.instagram.com/buildersdeclare_au


CONSTRUCTION DECLARES: THE CLIMATE REVOLUTION

“Architects, Builders, Engineers and Planners worldwide are standing up to revolutionise the built environment and demand a positive future. Locally we’ve seen the rise of the Declare movement – Australian Architects, Engineers, Planners and Builders Declare a Climate & Biodiversity Emergency.

The twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are the most serious issue of our time. Globally, buildings and construction play a major part, accounting for nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having a significant impact on our natural habitats.

For everyone working in the construction industry, meeting the needs of our society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries will demand a paradigm shift in our behaviour. Together with our clients, we will need to commission and design buildings, cities and infrastructures as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining system. We’re raising our voices and invite you to come on this journey with us.”
~ Text for an event in Melbourne Open House on 27 July 2020


Media coverage

→ The Fifth Estate – 9 July 2020:
Watch out: Here come the builders to join the climate declare movement!
”For tradies working to hard deadlines and budgets to construct buildings off predetermined plans, it can be hard to see how they can contribute meaningfully to the climate and biodiversity emergencies. The 10 founding signatories of the Australian Builders Declare movement, launched last week, are on a mission to shift this attitude and encourage the industry, which employs around 9 per cent of Australia’s population, to do its bit.”








→ #buildersdeclare


Australian Planners Declare

Australian planners are declaring a climate and biodiversity emergency.

Behind ‘Planners Declare’ is a network of passionate and diverse planners who believe that it is important for the profession to publicly declare and advocate for a proactive, progressive and feasible response to the ecological crisis we face. They write:

“Planners in all sectors, from public, private, academic to non-for-profit sectors, need to be held accountable for the actions they undertake. In saying that, we recognise the delicate circumstances planners face either at the behest of politics or a client. We therefore want to say: we see you and you are not alone.”

→ Planners Declare website:
www.plannersdeclare.org/

→ You can sign up to be first alerted on www.linktr.ee/plannersdeclare

→ The Fifth Estate – 23 June 2020:
The Planners Declare movement is here

→ Planners Declare on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/plannersdeclare

→ Planners Declare on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/pg/plannersdeclare