London, UK – December 19, 2016: City of London office blocks at sunset and lots of cranes. Image © IR Stone via Shutterstock
The 2022 United Nations Conference of the Parties, more commonly referred to as COP27, was held between November 6 and November 18, 2022, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The conference included more than 90 heads of state and an estimated 35,000 representatives, or delegates, from 190 countries. These conferences are aimed at encouraging and guiding countries to take effective action against climate change. While the conferences address a larger set of issues, the built environment is recognized as playing a major role in ensuring that sustainability targets are achieved.
The Building to COP27, a group of sustainability-focused built environment NGOs and organizations, is working to position the built environment as a critical sector to achieve the needed transition to a resilient and zero emissions future at COP conferences. The group aims to raise awareness of the impact that the building sector can have while pointing out that more drastic measures need to be taken, as most countries do not include full building decarbonization targets, and certain areas, such as building materials are under-addressed.