DBU: Affordable energy-efficient housing and transport transition as key to sustainable development
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"Well-insulated and energy-efficient modern housing must remain affordable for poorer people. This is crucial, said DBU Secretary General Dr Heinrich Bottermann at the expert forum "Urban spaces in the face of climate change", to ensure that society does not become divided. He also emphasised how important it is for climate-neutral and resource-conserving neighbourhood development to rely more on timber construction and to push back concrete buildings. "If concrete, then only recycled concrete," emphasised Bottermann."
Dr Lars Grotewold, climate protection expert at the Mercator Foundation, spoke out in favour of a transport revolution in cities. Despite all efficiency efforts, transport still causes as many emissions as it did 25 years ago. Grotewold's ambitious demand: "By the middle of the century, the transport sector must be completely CO2-be free."
In the run-up to the UN World Human Settlements Summit Habitat III, the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) points to the major challenges posed by increasing urbanisation. In its report "The Relocation of Humanity: The Transformative Power of Cities", the WBGU emphasises that a brief window of opportunity will open up in the coming decades of urbanisation "to set the course towards sustainability" - see Printed matter 18/9590. In this context, the Council recommends shortening the Habitat conference cycle from 20 to four years. The upcoming Habitat conference will take place from 17 to 20 October in Ecuador. The topic of "urbanisation and transformation" should also become a permanent item on the G20 agenda.
"The report is impressive in view of its wealth of arguments and diverse examples of urbanisation phenomena and the description of their effects. The Association of German Cities feels - not least due to its contributions to the success of the HABITAT III conference in Quito in October 2016 - in complete agreement with the report regarding the central role of cities in mastering the upcoming transformation challenges and utilising their opportunities. The challenges to urban transformation are clearly expressed: the call for a sustainable, globally coded urban development policy is a mandate to the global community and national policies to make cities capable of taking action and to urban societies to utilise this capacity for the benefit of the urban population."
Lord Mayor Dr Eva Lohse President of the Association of German Cities
In its report, the WBGU presents a transformation strategy for the sustainable and "people-oriented design" of urbanisation. Cities play a particularly key role in this, as "the relocation of humanity could become the most powerful process of social change in the 21st century".
The force of the current urbanisation dynamic and its effects are so great that cities, urban societies, governments and international organisations worldwide must face up to this trend. A "business as usual" approach would lead to an unsustainable global urban society if urbanisation policy is not shaped. Only if cities and urban societies become sufficiently capable of acting can they realise their potential for sustainable development: It is in the cities that it will be decided whether the Great Transformation towards sustainability will succeed. This book discusses the conditions for success.
The report identifies five transformative, interlinked fields of action:
Decarbonisation, energy and climate protection,
Mobility and transport,
the structural and spatial design of cities,
Adaptation to climate change and
Poverty reduction and socio-economic disparities.
With regard to climate protection, for example, fossil CO₂ emission sources must be replaced by 2070, writes the WBGU. There would also have to be a "move away from a large part of the current infrastructure patterns" in order to reduce the temperature increase to significantly less than two degrees Celsius.
At the proposal of the Federal Environment Ministry, the Federal Cabinet adopted the third German Resource Efficiency Programme (ProgRess III) on 17 June 2020. With this programme, the government aims to achieve an economical use of raw materials. Companies in particular are to use natural resources more efficiently along the entire value chain. Greater use is to be made of digital solutions to increase resource efficiency. The decision in favour of resource-saving products is to be made easier for citizens through improved information.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze: "A secure supply of raw materials is essential for the German economy. The Corona crisis with its impact on supply chains and raw materials markets has made this clear to us. Tomorrow's economy needs a push for more resource efficiency. Companies and consumers are equally challenged here. It is about using the opportunities of digital technologies for more prosperity and competitiveness, social justice and an intact environment. With its guiding idea of gradually making economic and production methods in Germany less dependent on primary raw materials, ProgRess makes an important contribution to making the German economy more crisis-proof."
Digitalisation contributes significantly to the increased consumption of raw materials. This is illustrated by the increasing spread of smartphones and tablets as well as the growing demand for server services. At the same time, digitalisation offers solutions, as the Federal Ministry for the Environment has also made clear in its environmental digital agenda: Thanks to ever faster processing of process data, production can be better controlled and the use of raw materials more efficient. ProgRess III is therefore devoting a new focus to digitalisation with measures for resource efficiency in the area of Industry 4.0 and data centres. Companies are supported in designing and producing products in a resource-efficient manner in the future. During the manufacturing, use and disposal phases, products should in future use a minimum of material, water and energy and still fulfil their function.
Not only in production, but also in consumer behaviour, digitalisation has so far been driving the increasing consumption of resources. Online trade, for example, has become an important segment of the retail trade today, with growth rates of around ten percent annually. Therefore, ProgRess III also focuses on raising awareness among the population, in everyday areas such as "working and living", "mobility" and "informing and communicating". Here, durability and quality are to become central selling points. Consumers should receive transparent, reliable, comparable, verifiable and easily understandable information for their purchasing decisions. The German Resource Efficiency Programme III focuses in particular on market incentives, information, advice, education, research and innovation as well as on strengthening voluntary measures and initiatives in business and society. The spectrum of topics covered by the 119 measures ranges from ecological due diligence obligations in raw material supply chains to the reparability of products, advisory services for companies and standardisation and certification systems for recyclates to investments in public transport and eco-labels for resource-efficient software.
In addition to an intensive consultation process with the federal states, associations and other social actors, extensive citizen participation was also carried out as part of the development of ProgRess III. Based on the results of this dialogue, citizens formulated a Citizens' Advice on resource conservation, which was integrated into ProgRess III.
Further information on ProgRess III can be found at HERE>
Building culture is becoming a recognised goal in the real estate industry: with support from the real estate and housing industry, the Institute for Corporate Governance in the German Real Estate Industry (ICG) and the Federal Foundation for Building Culture initiated and developed the Code for building culturea voluntary commitment for the responsible performance of tasks by companies in the real estate industry.
In its role as project developer, planner, builder, owner, etc., the real estate industry bears particular responsibility for the design of our living spaces. At the same time, building culture values and social acceptance form the basis for economic success. The Codex for Building Culture now supports companies in the real estate industry in assuming social responsibility for the consequences of real estate business activities and for the built results on their own initiative and within the framework of self-regulation. The fact that building culture offers added value for the real estate industry has now entered people's minds - but is not always put into practice. In the survey of the participation process for the code, for example, 98% of the companies surveyed stated that the appreciation of historic properties is seen as relevant or at least relevant to a certain extent - only half of the respondents, however, stringently implement this in practice.
Building culture is always closely linked to process quality, which is why the initiators of the Code for Building Culture were keen to involve the players in the real estate industry in the drafting process. Since a personal discussion of the contents was not possible due to the Corona pandemic, companies in the real estate and housing industry were asked in the summer of 2020 to provide feedback on the draft of the Code for Building Culture by means of an online survey and were thus involved. Scientific support was provided by IREBS at the University of Regensburg.
Prof. Dr. Sven Bienert, Chairman of the Institute for Corporate Governance in the German Real Estate Industry /IREBS Institute at the University of Regensburg, is in favour of this code because: "In times of rising land prices and ever higher building densities, the issue of a "good building culture" is becoming increasingly important. This form of social responsibility will also increasingly concern the real estate industry in the future in the ever more important after-use and conversion - for example of churches that are increasingly coming onto the market."
"Our goal is to make the real estate industry fit for the future," says Karin Barthelmes-Wehr, Managing Director of the ICG. "This includes encouraging the players in the industry to deal with all the requirements of ESG (Environment Social Governance) and to forge new alliances in this regard. For this, the Code for Building Culture we have presented provides a very good basis in the field of planning, development and construction."
Reiner Nagel, Chairman of the Board of the Federal Foundation for Building Culture, emphasises: "The Code for Building Culture now focuses on the responsibility of real estate business activities for the spatial impact of the built environment on us and the resulting consequences, with which companies grow in their building culture competence. As a result, the quality of the built environment benefits from the Code for Building Culture that is now available."
The complete "Code forBuildingCulture" and documentation of the participation process can be found at on our website. It contains the following demands (abbreviated).
Attitude and Values:
- Holistic building culture
- Prudent action in new construction and portfolio development
- Appreciation of already existing building culture
Visions and goals:
- Use stocks
- go easy on resources
- Promoting diversity and mix
Processes and Means:
- life cycle assessment
- quality assurance
- Cooperative collaboration
Supporters of the Codex for Building Culture already include:
- Art Invest
- reason of value
- Landmarken AG
- COPRO Project Development GmbH
- PRIMUS developments GmbH
Source: PM of the Bundesstiftung Baukultur from 17.5.2021
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