The conference started off in a controversial way; Bjørn Lomborg, adjunct professor at the Copenhagen Business School and well-known environmentalist author, stated that instead spend 180 billion dollar on reducing carbon emissions and other Kyoto related issues we could better spend them on improving clean drinking water, basic healthcare and education. Although global warming is real and man made, according to Lomborg the consequences of climatological changes are vastly exaggerated and trying to counter them just postpones the effects with a few years. It is good to not focus blindly on some doomsday scenario and get paralyzed, there are many other issues to address, but Lomborgs voice is a lone one among climatologists. The closing speech was done by polar explorer Pen Hadow who in 2003 completed the first solo journey from Canada to the geographic North Pole. The icecap is without any doubt melting fast and could be gone in 15 years time, leaving a dark ocean absorbing all the heat from the sun and causing a dramatic rise in global temperature.

In the session ‘Creating and Occupying Sustainable Workplaces’ Mike Hussey, Managing Director of Land Securities, Will Esplen, Head of Property Deloitte, and Paul Scrivener, Design Director MCM Architecture, elaborated on the New Street Square project which houses Deloitte’s London campus. Deloitte is going green and wants to reduce it’s carbon footprint considerably and become carbon neutral. This carbon footprint was caused in 2004 for 50% of travel, 47% energy and 3% occupancy. Quick wins are using renewable energy, use the train instead of the plane, video or teleconferencing instead of travelling to meetings. For the new building 20% less concrete was used, all timber was from certified sustainable sources, all suppliers were checked. Of the demolition material 93% was re-used or recycled. Later I heard from the company who was furbishing the building that in practice it was not so easy to carry everything out, especially the suppliers had to adjust.

The Greenwich Peninsula and Elephant & Castle projects featured in the session ‘Building lasting, sustainable communities’. Both are Lend Lease developments in London. Lend Lease (founded by Dutchman Dick Dusseldorp in Australia in 1958) is most known for its Bluewater retail project in Kent. The Greenwich Peninsula regeneration scheme is an example of a top down project for the former British Gas site and now housing the O2 Arena, formerly known as Millennium Dome. This was a deserted area and the project is well under way, although the first start was made in 1994! Elephant & Castle however is a densely populated London area with a bad reputation and many different ethnic groups. This project is in a preplanning stage, so little could be told specifically. Linda Lees, director of New York-based Creative Cities International, will be involved in the project and is focussed on culture and involving the local communities. Sustainability is not only environmental, but as well economic and social.
And conferences have a major social aspect as well of course. Networking breaks, snap sessions and to top it all a dinner in the grand hall of the Museum of National History.