Multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy, Cundall, has publicly committed to achieving net zero carbon on all its projects globally by 2030.
The global practice, which has 25 offices worldwide, will collaborate with clients and industry to deliver energy and carbon solutions necessary to minimise the impact of global temperature rises.
After 2030, Cundall will only work on design projects that are net zero carbon.
The Zero Carbon Design 2030 (ZCD2030) commitment has been two years in the making and Cundall says it is both an internal cultural shift and a standpoint that will enable its engineers and designers to make zero carbon thinking ‘business as usual’ for all its people and clients.
Julian Bott, Cundall Asia-Pacific Managing Director said portfolio owners are setting themselves net zero targets for 2030 at the board level as part of their ESG strategy, “and now they need to know how to get there”.
“It is not just a matter of buying offsets. We are working with these asset owners and asset managers to develop logical, practical pathways that improve a property for users, reduce operating costs for energy and transition to full electrification. Once energy use and emissions have been reduced to the greatest extent possible, only then do offsets enter the equation.
“Improving existing buildings is also a win from an embodied carbon perspective. Upgrading what we have, enhancing its resilience and relevance will always be more sustainable than building something new.
“2030 is actually not very far away, and in terms of development cycle, a new building that we’re planning right now, is probably only just going to be operational by 2030. So anything that we’re working on that’s new, absolutely has to do this right now.”
The practice has an interim goal of achieving net zero carbon on 25 per cent of its projects by the end of 2024 and is already working with a wide range of clients on projects with net zero carbon ambitions.
Cundall’s Australian business has developed a specialist, multi-disciplinary approach for existing assets – Building Performance Services – that integrates energy-efficiency audits and upgrades, planning for electrification and achieving net zero carbon as means to achieve this ambitious goal.
Mr Bott said the goal is to bring people and clients along on the journey and working with them to accelerate decarbonising the industry and that the property industry has the opportunity to tackle climate change in a fast and meaningful way.
“We actually need to speed up, we don’t have time to slow down on this,” he said.
“Investors are already asking for it, but the real drivers are actually on performance. Performance drives real outcomes.”