Discussions are now underway about the outcome of the climate summit and what focus must prevail, not least until the next climate summit in a year, which will then take place in Egypt. In an interview with the business paper Dagens Industri, Skanska's Group Executive Vice President sustainability and innovation Lena Hök makes the following comments:
- "A strong impression is that despite, among other things, diluted formulations in the final document, there is a growing consensus on the seriousness of the climate threat and on the need to act. And that the interest and commitment from, among others, the business community for climate issues have grown strongly".
When asked what conclusions we bring with us from the meeting, Lena answers:
- "Among other things, that the 1.5-degree target is fixed. And overall, our conviction has been strengthened that our climate goals and the ambition to take a leading role in climate work in our industry is the right path”.
Skanska's goal in participating in COP26 was to tell our customers, partners, and political decision-makers about our view of the industrial transition, ideas about scalability, and what concrete measures can be taken here and now to reduce emissions. The built environment accounts for almost 40 percent of all energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the world - no other sector has a greater impact on emissions.
We want to be part of the solution. As an example, we participated as a member of LeadIt, a coalition of companies and countries involved in combating climate change, in a summit with, among others, John Kerry, US Special Envoy for Climate Change, and Krista Mikkonen, Finland's Minister of the Environment where the above issues lifted.
We also took the opportunity to work concretely with customers and partners as well as representatives of the British and Swedish governments on how we can together reduce our carbon dioxide emissions.
Seminars online in selection:
Transforming our built environment: from net-zero commitments to action | COP26 - YouTube
Time for action – how we accelerate emissions reductions through value-chains? | COP26 - YouTube