Tuesday 9 November
17.00 Phoebe MacDonald
From Joe Macleod’s thoughts on how we communicate the end of life of products, to Kate Raworth’s visual framework for sustainable development (doughnut economics), to discussions on ‘co-creating’ with the community, day one of the Design Council’s Design for Planet festival has been eventful and eye-opening.
If all UK design professionals, of which there are 1.69 million, embedded sustainability into every single design decision, then the climate really would be at the heart of everything we do….
12.59 Maria Smith
The Climate Group hosted a roundtable this morning on decarbonising steel and concrete with players from across the value chain from developers to specialist contractors. My main takeaway is that we have what we might call a ‘deployment gap’: a gap between what’s possible with the technology we have, and what’s actually happening. Yes, we need to work to get heavy industry to absolute zero, but in the immediate term, we also need to work together to make sure no concrete or steel is being specified or built that’s more carbon intensive that it needs to be.
One comment that really struck a chord was that we need to make the industry more open, so ‘you don’t have to know that guy’ to make the best use of the most environmentally sustainable solutions. Ironically the event was Chatham House Rules so I can’t tell you who said that.
12.40 Phil Zoechbauer
Day two for me kicked-off at the COP26 Green Zone – perhaps aptly named for it’s sign covered in plants, this is the publicly accessible area hosted at Glasgow’s Science Centre – and I was immediately struck by the range of people visiting, from delegates through to school kids: a reminder that climate change really does affect every single one of us regardless of age or background and we all need to take more of an interest in how we rise to the challenge.
Not unlike the Blue Zone across the river, the Green Zone is a hive of activity with countless stalls from all manner of organisations trying to convince the public of their green credentials – apologies if that sounds sceptical!
However I’m encouraged when speaking to an acquaintance at Glasgow City Council’s stall about the ‘Decade of Climate Action’ and plans being put in place for the city to achieve net-zero carbon by 2030, as well as the network of information-sharing that is being established with other cities with similar ambitions.
9.15 Joe Giddings
Day one of the AJ’s COP26 blog is day nine at COP for me, and the day takes me away from Glasgow to … Dundee! This is where the Design Council has organised a fringe conference, the Design for Planet festival, which is hosted, apparently unironically, in the great hulk of concrete that is the V&A Dundee by Kengo Kuma.
Cynicism aside, fantastic lineup of speakers here today, including Kate Raworth, Indy Johar, Immy Kaur and Finn Harries.
9.00 Phoebe MacDonald
I’ve been in Scotland since Thursday, but a personal highlight for me had to be the energy around the conference yesterday with Barack Obama in the house – what a speech. I really hope it inspired people, from school children to global leaders…
Yesterday, we also met with the Secretary of State at the DCMS, Nadine Dorries MP, to talk about protecting cultural assets. We discussed how we’re further embedding sustainability into the RIBA awards criteria and how the built environment can better make use of technology to tackle the climate crisis.
Monday 8 November
17.00 Phil Zoechbauer
Optimism quickly turns to confusion in the maze that is the COP Campus. Seemingly hundreds of green-clad stalls fill the space, with each country looking to demonstrate its sustainable credentials. Amongst the buzz, it is difficult to separate green-wash from genuine action.
I do, however, stumble across the Nordic pavilion where a talk is getting underway on the decarbonisation of cities through green solutions such as district heating networks. It is interesting to learn how the C40 Cities group are collaborating across international boundaries to share lessons on the implementation of green energy solutions.
16.09 Maria Smith
I attended a couple of panels on the built environment at the New York Times’ Climate Hub this afternoon: one on adapting our homes to a changing climate, and another on new materials for the construction industry. Great lineups for both talks but no architects.
What does this tell us? That the New York Times doesn’t know any architects? That architects don’t have anything to contribute to this conversation? That this just isn’t a design problem but one for NGOs, policymakers, financiers and the construction industry supply chain? Or something else?
16.00 Chris Brown
Effective action at COP26 is taking place, not in the underwhelming Green Zone or the chaotic, MIPIM like Blue Zone, but in the back streets of Glasgow.
The People’s Summit organised the energising 100,000 strong march through the cold wind and rain on Saturday and were up bright and early on Sunday for three days of action planning in community venues around the city.
The session on future cities, massively oversubscribed due to Covid capacity restrictions, saw grassroots organisers from cities around the world learning from each other how to fill the void left by slow to act governments. The talk of the room was Doughnut Economics: meeting society’s needs within the planet’s limits.
One of the hottest tickets in town isn’t even in Glasgow
And one of the hottest tickets in town isn’t even in Glasgow. The Construction Scotland Innovation Centre COP26 tours are a renewable materials and robot fest, just an hour’s bus ride away in Blantyre, and have been getting high praise from COP delegates who have made the journey.
The Construction Scotland Innovation Centre COP26 tours
15.49 Phil Zoechbauer
Passport – check. UN registration letter – check. Negative Covid test – check. Face mask on, and I pass through the gates into United Nations territory, the long road to a net-zero carbon future seemingly stretching out ahead. With more than 100 countries represented at COP26, the bleak Glasgow weather does little to dampen my optimism as I look forward to discovering what action is being taken to allow us to take the steps down that road.
14.30 David Maguire
Joining the Blue Zone on Day 8, the big hitter on stage was of course former US president Barack Obama, who joined leaders from the developing world in calling for support: ‘We have to act now to help with adaptation and resilience’. Some choice words were directed at Russia and China for their lack of engagement in this COP, and he also criticised the Trump administration, noting that their partisan treatment of climate change masked the fact that citizens of all political affiliations will be affected by the reality of global warming.
9.00 Basil Demeroutis
We hosted Savills’ COP26 programme at our new net zero office building, Cadworks, during the first week of the conference in Glasgow. The discussion highlighted the confusion about what net zero means and how disruptive innovation is needed to bring urgent change to the property industry.
From what I’ve seen and heard here, a lot of businesses are all over the climate issue, making real well-considered declarations of action – and have already achieved a lot. While of course I’m hopeful that governments will act and drive change, businesses like ours are doing it with or without their support. We’ve committed to net zero by 2025, well ahead of the UK target. There are lots of other senior people here from the property industry showing a real commitment.
The real estate market doesn’t yet seem ready for carbon pricing
There has been some talk of carbon pricing but the real estate market doesn’t yet seem to be ready to make that leap yet. In the cost of retrofit, if you had to pay per tonne of carbon you emit, it would make the case for taking action now even stronger.
While he was talking to us about the consequences of tragic 40 per cent Arctic summer ice loss, I was inspired by Arctic explorer Pen Hadow’s challenge to the property industry to ‘dare to believe that things can be done beyond your comfort zone, beyond simply what rules of government dictate’.
Looking forward to the Built Environment day on Thursday this week – saving the best for last!
Saturday 6 November
16.00 David Maguire
Today’s climate march felt more like a carnival, complete with performance art, parade floats and an upbeat atmosphere. At Glasgow Green, youth leaders and activists came together to call for faster action from those inside the Blue Zone. Let’s see if they respond this week.
David Maguire at the climate march
Source:David Maguire
Friday 5 November
11.49 Becca Thomas
Since COP26 had the great taste to come to our home city, we’ve been overwhelmed by the number of fringe events in the first week. Three highlights from week one:
- Meeting the only representative from Tonga, Uili Louisi who presented a video and talk about TongAbove – a collaborative work with Jakob+MacFarlane. This really brought home the urgency for change from an island perspective and challenged the audience to connect to that from the perspective of the global north.
- Opening the Sustainable Glasgow Landing and the Landing Hub, a project our practice has delivered for the City Council which creates space for activist, cultural and corporate audiences to interact on the River Clyde.
- ACAN and Architecture Fringe jointly hosted COP or Flop at Many Studios. The evening brought together facts and comedy thanks to Raymond Mearns leading the audience in games of ‘higher or lower’.
The amount of carbon released last year was equivalent to 17 Walls of China
Did you know that the amount of carbon released last year was equivalent to 17 Walls of China? Or equal to 2.5 million AirForce Ones? And a healthy dose of ‘two truths and a lie’, which compared politicians’ lies to their possible opinions on wagon wheels and snickers bars … a wonderful way to bring some researched levity to my week.
Sustainable Glasgow Landing
Source:Becca Thomas
Tuesday 2 November
12.14 Maria Smith
In the Buildings Pavilion this morning, representatives from the GlobalABC, WBCSD, UNEP, WorldGBC and the RIBA all spoke to systems thinking and radical collaboration. But what does this mean? What if we take a step back. On the one hand, we have millions of smart, talented, creative architects, engineers, builders and so on, and on the other hand, we have so so much to do in terms of retrofitting our existing buildings, restoring our landscapes, setting up the infrastructures of a circular economy, and making safe and secure homes, schools, hospitals for all.
But we’re not bringing these two hands together in applause or a funky Steve Reich rhythm, we’re just slapping about like two drunks running towards each other blindfolded and hoping for a majestic high five. I agree with the systems thinking and radical collaboration (I was one of the people saying it) but if we really acted with those principles in mind, what would that look like?
9.19 Chris Brown
First impressions of COP26 are mixed. The Blue Zone looks spectacular from the south bank of the river at night.
By day, the scrum to get into the main Blue Zone gate, the dire visitor experience of arriving, if you’ve managed to navigate your way despite the lack of signs, at the Green Zone entrance, passing the sewage tank emptying lorry, having weaved through gaps in hedges across a vast empty car park, suggests event management inadequacies.
Meanwhile the rest of glorious Glasgow is just getting on with life, with the addition of some road closure inconvenience, an obvious high-vis police presence and occasional outbreaks of protest. It’s a stark contrast to summer 2014 when the Commonwealth Games turned the city into a party. George Square is deadly quiet.
Protests in Glasgow at COP26
Source:Chris Brown
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