Decarbonisation of The Built Environment

During CoP28, we held our Summit on UAE-UK Collaboration in Decarbonisation of The Built Environment, sponsored by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and partnered with the Centre of Excellence in Smart and Sustainable Construction (CESSC) at Heriot Watt University campus in Dubai.

This Summit was the outcome of a nine-month programme of virtual focus group discussions between senior business leaders and academics from the UK and the UAE to foster an exchange of knowledge on new initiatives and opportunities for decarbonising the built environment. These stakeholders included Mubadala, Mott MacDonald, MACE, The Emirates Green Building Council, Alpin Ltd, De Montfort University and others. The key thematic areas were:

  • Retrofitting of existing building stock

  • Developing robust datasets, methodologies and evaluations

  • Cement, Low Carbon construction materials and sustainable alternatives

 The outcomes of the virtual meetings and the Summit formed the basis of our White Paper, with a series of recommendations on how to overcome barriers to commercial collaboration between the UK and the UAE in decarbonising the built environment, whilst exploring the policy and regulatory environments in both countries, and identifying the new and emerging opportunities within the green construction sector. This White Paper, published in July 2024, will be submitted to both Governments for consideration later this year at the UK-UAE Ministerial Joint Economic Committee. The UAE-UK Business Council will track the progress of the recommendations made within this paper and will continue to prioritise sustainability as one of its key campaign themes.

 You can watch the highlights from our Decarbonisation of The Built Environment Summit here, Highlights of Decarbonisation of the Built Environment Summit, 7th December 2023 (youtube.com) or alternatively, view the panel discussions on our YouTube channel, UAE - UK Business Council - YouTube.