FIU What Drove the Green and Sustainable Movement In US Questions

Today on the Climate Corner Office, we’re speaking with Beth Heider, former Chief Sustainability Officer for Skanska USA, a top-five global construction firm with $20B in annual revenue.

Heider, an architect by training, has been working on green building projects since the early 90s, but says today the job ahead is truly massive. Buildings represent nearly 40% of total greenhouse emissions. Tack on another eight percent if you include the energy required to create and transport the materials for construction.

“We’re dancing while Rome is burning,” she says of the current response versus the scale of the problem. Skanska is focused on fixes in several directions. First is to control embodied carbon, which is the carbon that’s embedded in the materials used for construction. Much of the focus there is on materials innovation. A second bolder step is the development of net-zero buildings, new construction where the building itself generates enough energy to offset its own energy use and account for the energy embodied in its materials.

Today less than one percent of buildings are net-zero, says Heider. The U.N. predicts all new construction needs be net-zero by 2030 to avoid the worst ravages of climate change. But Heider is ultimately optimistic that humanity will get it done.

“Absolutely we have a shot,” she says. “We put a man on the moon. We need an Earth Shot.”

Directions

• Watch Climate Corner Office: Skanska’s Beth Heider Explains Sustainable Building with Neil Katz (Links to an external site.)
• Provide your opinion regarding the following questions:
  • What drove the green and sustainable movement in the US?
  • What % of carbon emissions are attributed to buildings? What are the generators of CO2 in buildings?
  • What is a Net Zero Building? What are the challenges in achieving the UN goals of new and renovation construction by 2030 and 2050?
  • What is embodied carbon in building construction? How can suppliers and the supply chain support the reduction of carbon in materials? Are there any available tools to help with this process?
  • What role of regulation, legislation and our industry play in overcoming the challenge of cost associated with Net Zero buildings?
  • Provide any additional observations and/or insights regarding the information discussed on this video.