EIC Spring Workshop on Carbon Neutrality as a Business Opportunity
On 16 April 2021, more than 100 representatives from EIC’s member federations, member companies and associated members convened digitally for a Workshop on ‘Turning the 2050 Carbon Neutrality Challenge into a Business Opportunity for European international contractors. The conference day was opened by EIC President, Benoît Chauvin, who reminded contractors of the comparably high carbon footprint of the European construction sector but also of its capability to identify innovative solutions to move the construction sector onto a low-carbon pathway. Such transition would make the European construction industry not only more sustainable but would deliver strong competitive advantages for European international contractors.
The President’s opening remarks were followed by two inspirational speeches. Bruno Pozzi, Director of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Europe Office, presented the perspective of his organisation on how to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies and emphasised that Business as Usual was no longer an option. He called upon the private sector to mobilise its human, managerial and financial resources to scale up technologies and innovations towards a sustainable future. Norbert Pralle, Chairman of the European Network of Construction Companies for Research and Development (ENCORD) stressed that no less than a paradigm shift was needed to progress to a more resource-efficient construction industry based on circularity thinking and the life-cycle approach.
During parallel break-out sessions, participants analysed the prospects for implementing climate-friendly construction projects in Africa, the need to calibrate existing business models to embed corporate, environmental and social sustainability into business operations and the potential of innovative procurement and contracting models as well as the digital transformation of the construction industry to enable the delivery of climate-friendly construction projects. These sessions were chaired by EIC Board Members and benefited from informative impulse statements from EIC’s member and associated member companies.
In his concluding remarks, EIC President Chauvin observed the need and the opportunity for EIC to develop with its members and partners an inclusive vision advocating the mobilisation of public and private expertise for the delivery of climate-friendly construction projects in Europe and world-wide.
Presentations held at the EIC Workshop can be downloaded here.