In our rush to leave 2020 behind—waaaay behind, let’s not barrel into 2021 without reframing our priorities. That advice, while important in all areas of life, is especially key in rebuilding our national and global economies. Where to focus our efforts in revving them back up? In the words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “2021 must be the year in which the world leaps forward into a net‑zero future.” Further, “The decisions we make now will determine the course of the next 30 years and beyond: emissions must fall by half by 2030 and reach net-zero emissions no later than 2050 to reach the 1.5 Celsius goal.”

Have we heard all that before? Certainly, ad nauseum. Only this time, the world needn’t imagine the economic and quality of life consequences of climate change as we are currently experiencing a very real hint of what lack of action will bring us.

Guterres says, “Science is clear: if we fail to meet these goals, the disruption to economies, societies and people caused by COVID-19 will pale in comparison to what the climate crisis holds in store.”

If we’re going to recover bigger and better from the pandemic, world governments and their people need to make effective climate action the priority. No doubt, most of us don’t like the glimpse we’ve seen in 2020. 

Focusing on a net-zero, carbon-neutral future can rebuild people’s lives by creating jobs.

Apart from the deaths and debilitating illness attributed to the pandemic, job loss has been COVID-19’s most catastrophic outcome for many. How to build back and make jobs more plentiful than before? The UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) says that focusing climate action efforts on the energy sector can produce 24 million jobs worldwide by 2030. Bonus: Such jobs are healthier than working in fossil fuels.

According to America’s New Climate Economy, one million dollars spent on clean energy in the United States generates more than twice as many jobs as the same amount spent on fossil fuels. So, it’s not like we haven’t already caught a glimpse of the possibilities.

The UN advises, “Public spending in key areas can help drive economic and job growth while reducing climate impacts.” One of the best areas in which to invest? Energy efficient buildings via renovations and retrofits to improve insulation, heating, and domestic energy storage systems. Also key, programs for training people who have lost their jobs during the pandemic so they’re ready to work in positions that help decarbonize the economy.

How will you, the building sector professional, contribute to a net-zero, carbon-neutral future?

Contractors, HVAC professionals, engineers, architects, and facility managers are in a unique position to promote climate health, economic growth, and a sustainable building stock. The infrastructure investments you make from construction materials to ventilation and thermal comfort can help or hinder recovery from the pandemic as well as the battle to arrive at net-zero emissions. How will you further educate yourself so that all your building-centric decisions involve sustainable solutions?

It’s a question we ask ourselves every day at Building Performance Energy. As innovators in energy recovery HVAC solutions, we’re always on the lookout for ways to tell people about our line of high-performance ERVs and to refine our mission accordingly. As-a-matter-of-fact, we just rewrote our mission statement for 2021:

“Placing energy recovery at the heart of its innovative engineering, BPE develops carbon-neutral HVAC solutions that raise the bar on healthy, comfortable indoor environments while saving heaps of money on energy bills and doing its part to save the planet by lowering emissions from building stock.

Even after removing over 750,000 car years of pollution from the North American Power Grid, our mission going into 2021 is just getting started. The goal? Remove over 5,000,000 car years of pollution by 2025. Let’s do this.”

Need help making decisions that bring us all closer to a carbon-neutral world? We stand ready to help you with your energy recovery goals.

Contact BPE, Inc to make indoor environments safe and comfortable while aiding in the fight to heal our planet. 201.722.1414

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