Engineering firm Buro Happold has become the latest signatory to the SE 2050 Commitment Program, which unites structural engineering firms behind the common goal to slash embodied carbon emissions from their projects by 2050.
Spearheaded by the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the pledge focuses specifically on tackling the emissions associated with structural systems, their construction and material use.
This accounts for the largest portion of a building's embodied carbon footprint, typically around 50 per cent, while the two most-used structural materials ? steel and concrete ? are together responsible for almost 12 per cent of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
It is here that structural engineers can make the biggest impact in the race to create a net-zero built environment by 2050 and help limit global warming to around 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Agreement, according to Buro Happold principal Stephen Curtis. "There has been, to date, a focus on operational carbon," he told Dezeen. "As structural engineers, we are more able to influence embodied carbon, so that is the focus for us."
"This is more than just a concrete and steel issue"
Buro Happold has already set a goal to halve the embodied carbon footprint of its projects by 2030.
By joining the Structural Engineers 2050 Commitment Program, the firm has extended this commitment to measuring, reducing and ultimately elimin...