It’s wild to think about how much started with one inconvenient truth. On...

Climate Reality 2 months ago

It’s wild to think about how much started with one inconvenient truth. On May 24, 2006, people walked into theaters to see the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” and left seeing the #climatecrisis differently. Maybe for the first time, many understood this isn’t just about polar bears or melting ice caps. It's about families, communities, health, justice, and the future we're creating for ourselves and generations to come. But instead of letting the momentum end there, former US Vice President @AlGore turned it into a movement. He brought together 50 people to learn how to share the reality of the climate crisis and help others take action too. From there, The Climate Reality Project was born. What started as one training created a ripple effect that continues to grow today. Climate Reality Leaders around the world have stepped up to learn, connect, organize, and inspire climate action back in their own communities. For 20 years, Climate Reality has met the moment required by the climate crisis, telling the truth, mobilizing people, building leaders, and advancing solutions with people just like you. Honestly, that’s the most powerful part of this story. People kept showing up. And they still are. Thank you. And to our founder, Al Gore, thank you for dedicating your voice, leadership, and career to helping people understand not only the reality of the climate crisis, but the power we all have to make a difference.

layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 10 hours ago



The UK concrete sector’s new circular economy in construction plan anchors a shift toward whole life carbon assessment as the benchmark for sustainable construction. By tracking both embodied carbon and operational performance, the industry aims to reduce the carbon footprint of construction and create low carbon building envelopes that support net zero carbon buildings. This initiative promotes circular construction strategies such as end-of-life reuse in construction, resource efficiency in construction, and the adoption of low embodied carbon materials to drive carbon footprint reduction across the supply chain. It signals the embedding of life cycle thinking in construction, where life cycle cost and building lifecycle performance become integral to design and procurement.

Revised BREEAM guidance, including updates anticipated in BREEAM V7, is intensifying scrutiny of climate resilience and environmental sustainability in construction. The integration of whole life carbon targets and eco-design for buildings aligns with the UK government’s commitment to adapt for 2°C of warming by 2050. Treating adaptation as a compliance requirement ensures that sustainable building practices are embedded within green construction codes rather than appended to them. Lifecycle assessment is now viewed as essential to ensuring net zero whole life carbon outcomes.

Urgency has also grown on the social side of sustainable building design. Rising heat mortality across vulnerable housing stock highlights the health imperative for energy-efficient buildings and equitable eco-friendly construction standards. Retrofit projects focused on insulation, passive cooling and low carbon design now contribute to both social resilience and decarbonising the built environment. At the same time, partnerships between public, private and philanthropic sectors are demonstrating how sustainable urban development can regenerate industrial zones into low carbon construction materials hubs and green infrastructure corridors that support carbon neutral construction.

Across all fronts, sustainable design has moved from concept to criterion: sustainability is now measured in tonnes of carbon, not words.

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