Climate Change and Green Buildings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Climate Change and Green Buildings - Essay Example Global warming is not merely an environmental issue but has several far-reaching economic repercussions as well. Accordingly, a new revolution in the real-estate market is observed, where efforts are on to build a low-carbon society, which has now become highly popular among the public and a top international priority. Although, cynicism regarding the viability of such a project i.e. economic benefits of green buildings, exist there are equally enthusiastic reports by researchers regarding its positive influences on reducing the carbon footprint. In recent years, amid growing concern that the impact of climate change is becoming more severe, there are indications that we are moving towards solutions to the problem. For example, when it comes to global warming issues, it is said that anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are more than double the amount absorbable by nature, such as by forests and oceans. In order to prevent any further increase in gree nhouse gases in the atmosphere, it will be necessary to cut these emissions by at least 50%. Regarding the issue of biodiversity as a serious environmental problem along with climate change, at the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in May 2008, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity(TEEB) study was announced. The TEEB study showed not only serious economic losses brought on by the progressive loss of biodiversity and ecological destruction, but also by the impact of deforestation in poor countries causing various natural disasters, such as floods. These are examples of the various repercussions of global warming whereby human actions have triggered a series of natural disasters leading to a vicious cycle of worsening poverty, food crisis, and shortage of pure drinking water in several developing countries where the actions of people in developed countries cause a negative impact on the water, food, and fish in developing countries. An other aspect of the study involved the use of market mechanisms as an advanced approach to biodiversity conservation (TEEB, 2008). Also, at the 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Nagoya, Japan in November 2010, the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’s Final Report was published. It was reported that various species are rapidly becoming extinct the speed of extinction of species is climbing as a result of the effect of climate change on ecosystems, and if appropriate measures are not taken, global losses in annual Natural Capital may rise to as much as 4.5 trillion dollars (TEEB, 2010). According to the EDMC Handbook of Energy & Economic Statistics in Japan 2009, the total amount of CO2 Emissions doubled globally from 1971 to 2007, with an increase of 98% across the world. This study focused on developed and developing countries (BRICs) that regularly emit substantial amounts of CO2, and also tracked these emissions on an annual basis. Increased industrialization, spurred by more construction, manufacturing, transportation, and travel, is reflected in the raised CO2 emissions from all the countries in the study. The developed countries (BRICs), however, showed an even higher increase, as a result of foreign companies expanding their