June 30, 2020

Younger workers careers suffer in lockdown, but are hopeful of better future

In the face of unprecedented health and economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘millennials’ and ‘Gen Zs’ express resolve and a vision to build a better future, a new Deloitte survey claims. The 2020 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey, now in its ninth year, suggests that both generations remain resilient in the face of adversity and are determined to drive positive change in their communities and around the world. More →

June 23, 2020

BBP and BSRIA publish new soft landings report for property owners

by Neil Franklin • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property

Better Buildings Partnership, together with BSRIA (Building Services Research and Information Association), has today published the joint report: Soft Landings: The Benefits to Commercial Property Owners. The commercial property sector is waking up to the fact that it needs to take responsibility on climate change and there is a broad recognition that a significant gap exists between the design expectations and operational performance of buildings. Part of taking climate action involves minimising this gap, the report’s authors claim. More →

May 19, 2020

Global carbon dioxide emissions fall dramatically because of lockdown

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

Carbon dioxide emissions have declined rapidly during the Covid-19 lockdown according to a new global academic study, but experts are warning that the reductions may be short-lived as normal economic activity resumes. The findings appeared today in the journal Nature Climate Change. The international study of carbon emissions found that daily emissions declined by around 17 percent between January and early April, compared to the previous year and could decline anywhere between 4.4 percent and 8 percent for the whole of 2020, the largest annual drop since the Second World War. More →

May 13, 2020

Pandemic threatens the transition to clean energy

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

The coronavirus pandemic risks cancelling out recent progress in transitioning to clean energy, with unprecedented falls in demand, price volatility and pressure to quickly mitigate socioeconomic costs placing the near-term trajectory of the transition in doubt. Policies, roadmaps and governance frameworks for energy transition at national, regional, and global levels need to be more robust and resilient against external shocks, according to the latest edition of World Economic Forum’s Fos tering Effective Energy Transition 2020 report published today. More →

March 13, 2020

Commercial property energy use fell by over 3 percent last year

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property

Operational energy consumption in the UK commercial property sector fell by 3.3 percent during 2018/19 compared to the previous year, according to the latest figures from the “in-use” benchmark published by the UK’s Better Building Partnership (BBP). The Real Estate Environmental Benchmark (REEB) compared operational energy performance between 2017/18 and 2018/19, based on 1,038 UK properties covering 11.7m sqm belonging to 31 of the partnership’s 34 member companies. More →

February 20, 2020

New EU AI strategy focuses on ethics

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Technology

The European Commission has put forward a strategy to promote the development of AI and robotics while putting people first and defending European values and rights. The strategy acknowledges that AI can open up new opportunities for businesses and bring solutions to challenges such as climate change. However, it aims to address the social, legal and ethical impact of new technology. More →

January 15, 2020

Renewable energy should make up half of all supply by 2030

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

The share of renewables in global power should more than double by 2030 as part of a ‘decade of action’ to advance global energy transformation, achieve sustainable development goals and a pathway to climate safety, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Renewable electricity should supply 57 per cent of global power by the end of the decade, up from 26 per cent today. More →

December 13, 2019

RICS report calls on organisations to adopt more responsible policies

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched a new ‘Responsible Business Report with recommendations for real estate firms to develop and implement responsible business practices, to improve their business culture, reduce their environmental impact and attract and retain the brightest talent. Best practice case studies from leading companies such as CBRE, Sodexo, John Lewis and Vinci Facilities are included in the report. More →

December 4, 2019

A quarter of workers would accept a significant pay cut to work in an eco-friendly role

by Neil Franklin • News

Rising interest in climate change among the UK population has now reached such a level that our desire to take action is impacting our careers – with over a quarter of workers (26 percent) willing to take a salary cut in order to move to an environmentally conscious company or an NGO (non-governmental organisation), according to a new survey from TotalJobs. An additional 28 percent said they would consider quitting their job to work with for an organisation they considered to be more environmentally friendly than their current one, a figure that jumps to 50 percent when applied to millennial workers, aged between 23 and 38. More →

December 3, 2019

Manifesto calls for action on disability inclusion as pay gap for disabled people widens

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

A leading non-profit disability and business organisation is calling on the future Government to commit to a series of actions to support businesses to deliver on disability inclusion. Business Disability Forum published its ‘Manifesto for Inclusive Change’ today (3 December) to mark the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The manifesto calls for action in seven areas to ensure that the role businesses play in disabled people’s lives is enhanced, not inhibited, by government policy. To read Business Disability Forum’s ‘Manifesto for Inclusive Change’ go to www.businessdisabilityforum.org.uk . Follow the debate at #DisabilitySmart. More →

November 29, 2019

Seeing red about the only home we will ever know

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Somewhere in the Utah desert, there is a small living pod designed to emulate conditions on Mars for a group of scientists keen to explore how we might colonise that red planet after messing this blue one up. This came as a surprise to me as did the news that Ikea has been on site recently installing some of its furniture for the occupants. Next up perhaps, an installation of Billy bookcases on the International Space Station as scientists explore the effects on people of a lost screw in zero gravity. I am Jack’s unconstrained rage. More →

November 13, 2019

Global warming is already having a widespread economic impact

by Neil Franklin • Business, Environment, News

The impact of global warming is rarely included in standard macroeconomic forecasts, even over 20-30 year time horizons. This partly reflects the perception that the economic effects of global warming are unlikely to become significant until the second half of this century and even then, will cost no more than a few percentage points of world GDP.