Today (Wednesday 30 April) marks New Zealand’s earth overshoot day –showcasing just how quickly we’d exhaust the planet’s biocapacity if everyone consumed at the same level as us Kiwis.
Given we’re just a third of the way through the year, it’s pretty scary just how excessive our level of consumption is. It feels like every month is littered with regular reminders like that, reinforcing how urgently we need to act, how desperately we need to respond and do things differently.
The Peoples’ Climate Vote is the world’s largest standalone public opinion survey on climate change, created to deliver people’s perspectives on climate change to world leaders. A resounding 89 percent of people are wanting to see more climate action from their governments, and there's a clear expectation that governments need to lead and strengthen their commitments to address climate change.
A special thank you to all of you who got in touch and supported our response on government procurement changes. Our submission was stronger thanks to your support – now we wait and see if MBIE walk away from its damaging proposals.
Looking ahead, there's a few things I'd like to highlight in support of our shared vision for a better built environment. Today we’re celebrating our Existing Homes Roadmap – an important document outlining the trajectory we need to take if we’re to turn the homes Kiwi families are living in now into the homes they deserve for the future. Just like our hugely successful Zero Carbon Roadmap, it lays out a series of often simple steps government, industry, and communities can take to make a difference. With over two million households there’s a huge opportunity to not only support climate action, but to ensure our people live in warm, healthy, efficient places.
We’re about to call time on Green Star Design & As Built registrations from the end of May, and we’re seeing strong interest in the new Green Star Buildings tool. This is a vital shift. We are moving to a consistent definition of sustainable buildings, a great new framework for sustainable products and the opportunity to align with the Science Based Targets Initiative.
Next week on 7th May is our Housing Summit - a great opportunity to connect with one another, to hear ground breaking research, better understand sustainable finance opportunities and importantly, to be inspired by leading projects happening around NZ. Tickets sales close this Friday so make sure you don’t miss out! Looking forward to catching up with many of you there.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we create a future in which earth overshoot day is a thing of the past, and instead we celebrate overshooting our climate response? That we make so much progress as to blow our climate targets out of the water?
It’s still possible with immediate, meaningful action. Your commitment and efforts are crucial in creating a sustainable future. Now is the time to act decisively, educate others, and push for the systemic changes needed to protect our planet.