136 candidates from 17 countries: who will you vote for?

This is it! Construction21 closed the applications to its international contest for sustainable solutions: the Green Solutions Awards 2018. 136 participants will represent their country and try to become the champion of their category. The closing of applications also marks the beginning of the online votes. Everyone can chose and support their favourite buildings, districts and infrastructures to select the User’s choice award winner in their country. Heat up those likes! 98 buildings, 14 districts

‘Urgent action’ needed to boost renewable heat and transport

A new report has highlighted the continued dominance of renewable power to the detriment of other clean energy sectors, which seriously lag behind. The non-profit REN21 has released data compiled from official government sources, international organisations, and hundreds of surveys to build a picture of the renewable energy sector over the past two years. Their work shows that renewable power had another record-breaking year, adding 178 gigawatts of new capacity in 2017. But this astonishing growth

Huge change in energy investment needed to meet climate targets

Investment in clean energy must increase by up to 50 percent in some economies to limit global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. This is one of the findings from a new scientific study on the financial requirements of the Paris climate agreement. Researchers from the Austria-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) used six different modelling techniques to calculate the costs and consequences of meeting the world’s climate goals. They found that the overall level of

Watch the first ManagEnergy Talk with Rob Hopkins

As stakeholders of the sustainable energy field gathered in Brussels for the EU Sustainable Energy Week, they had the chance to end the second day of the Policy Conference on an inspirational note. For its first edition, the ManagEnergy Talk chose to invite serial storyteller Rob Hopkins (UK). Founder of the Transition movement, Hopkins gave insights to how bottom-up actions can have very real impacts through imagination. In his own words, his speech was a “love poem to the words ‘what if’”. For

Roger Léron Award: Deadline Extension

The Roger Léron Award aims to acknowledge the determination of an individual and their impressive contributions to sustainable energy at the regional and local level in Europe. The nomination period is now extended to the 30th June 2018. This allows one extra month for nominators to fill in the nomination form and to send all the necessary documents. Indeed, regional and local levels of governance play a central role in energy and climate issues, through their responsibility for many policy areas

[Urban Chronicles 2.0 #03] How to take ESG criteria into account in real estate?

2018: a year of transition for Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) applied to real estate? The integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks into real estate investment strategies is evolving, as evidenced by the 11% increase in the level of participation of European real estate players in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB). Driven by a favourable political, legal and market environment, the growth of responsible real estate investment raises the question

Construction21 receives a Deauville Green Award

The 7th International Festival for audiovisual productions for sustainable development and ecoinnovations was taking place in Deauville, France on Wednesday June 20th. This world contest gathered 420 movies from all over the globe. Construction21 received the silver Award in the category “Sustainable and circular production”. Every year, Construction21 produces videos for its Green Solutions Awards, and chose to submit one of its winners of 2017 to the competition: Filtering gardens® of Rio de Janeiro

Macquarie Group offers £500m to finance sustainable projects

Australian investment group Macquarie has offered £500 million to finance green projects. The money forms part of a new £2 billion facility, with one-quarter earmarked for a range of sustainable initiatives. The first round of £250 million will be put towards renewable energy projects, while a second round will branch out to include energy efficiency, waste management, and clean transport. The loan reportedly saw strong demand from the global finance community, particularly in Asia. Macquarie has

City of London commits to 100% renewable energy

The City of London Corporation has announced plans to source 100 percent of its electricity from renewables. The corporation is the governing body for London’s historic financial district, called the Square Mile, and is separately a major property owner. Its holdings include social housing in six London boroughs, 10 schools, three markets and 11,000 acres of green space across the whole city. Catherine McGuinness, Chairman of the corporation’s policy and resources committee, said: “This is a big

Samsung Electronics commits to 100% renewable energy

Samsung has become the latest international company to take the significant step towards obtaining 100 percent of its energy from clean sources. The South Korean conglomerate made the announcement this week, and will first make the change at its operations in the United States, Europe, and China within the next two years. Switching to 100 percent renewable energy across its office buildings, factories and other facilities should a major impact on the environment. Its electronics arm is one the world’s