Meet Sally Higgins. 🌾 🌏 A farmer from Allora in Queensland's Darling...

UN Climate Change 1 month ago

Meet Sally Higgins. 🌾 🌏 A farmer from Allora in Queensland's Darling Downs, Sally has been chosen as the #YouthClimateChampion for #COP31. Follow her journey on Instagram @cop.youthclimatechampion. 🌱 Five years ago, Sally started her own cattle and cropping farm with her partner. She knows what it means to depend on the land and exactly what's at stake when the climate shifts. Now she's taking that experience to the world stage. COP31 is the global climate summit held every year to drive climate action. Australia is leading the negotiations at the summit in Antalya, Türkiye and working in partnership with the Pacific to host the Pre-COP meetings and leaders’ events. At COP31, Sally will work to bring young people closer to decision-making – not just giving them a seat at the table, but helping shape what’s on it. Climate change is a global challenge. Sally is proof that local experience and global ambition go hand in hand. Link the in bio to learn more. 🔗 #ClimateAction #YouthLeadership #COP31YouthClimateChampion @unclimatechange @turkiyecop31 @hlcchampions

layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 37 minutes ago



Sustainable construction is accelerating towards measurable decarbonisation as innovation, policy, and supply chain governance begin to align. In London, bio‑based wallboards such as Adaptavate’s Breathaboard—used in Legal & General’s new headquarters—demonstrate how low embodied carbon materials with environmental product declarations (EPDs) are entering large‑scale deployment. This marks a shift from theory to delivery in eco‑friendly construction and underscores the importance of Whole Life Carbon Assessment across sustainable building design.

UK policy now links agriculture and the built environment through a £240 million expansion of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, improving soil health and cutting reliance on high‑carbon fertilisers. These measures support decarbonising the built environment and address the embodied carbon in materials central to net zero Whole Life Carbon targets. As scrutiny of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol exposes inconsistencies in corporate carbon reporting, reliable lifecycle assessment frameworks are becoming critical to verifying low carbon building outcomes and aligning procurement with sustainable material specification.

Growth in renewables, driven by projections of a fourfold expansion in offshore wind capacity by 2035, is reshaping operational emissions and strengthening the foundation for carbon neutral construction and energy‑efficient buildings designed under BREEAM V7 guidelines. This integration of renewable building materials and design principles reflects a more mature phase in the industry’s evolution towards net zero carbon buildings and a functioning Circular Economy in construction.

The sector’s trajectory points towards verified performance, where Whole Life Carbon, Life Cycle Cost, and transparent building lifecycle performance replace aspirations with measurable delivery. The transition from demonstration to large‑scale adaptation defines modern environmental sustainability in construction, confirming that the next decade will test implementation rather than intent across every level of sustainable building practices and green construction worldwide.

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