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When 195 countries reached the groundbreaking Paris Agreement on climate change last December, no one could have foreseen the pace at which individual countries – including China, the US and Brazil – would ratify the deal, which now looks set to come into force later this year. It is astonishing to see the momentum that has followed the COP21 conference, given the relative inertia witnessed in the years leading up to it. And nowhere is this momentum more apparent than with efforts to reduce – and ultimately eliminate – emissions from all buildings: the goal to achieve ‘net zero’.It was at COP21’s Buildings Day that renowned architect and Founder of Architecture 2030 Ed Mazria called on Green Buildings Councils to lead the building and construction industry by striving for net zero carbon buildings – the same day as three of our Green Building Councils committed to introduce net zero certification programmes. And now, nearly a year on, a further seven Green Building Councils in countries as large and rapidly-growing as Brazil and India, have joined Advancing Net Zero, our groundbreaking project on net zero buildings, which launched in June.The science behind net zero is simple. If we are to stand any chance of keeping global warming to within 2 degrees, and ideally within 1.5 degrees, all new buildings should be ‘net zero carbon’ by 2030 (meaning no buildings should be built below net zero carbon standards beyond 2030), and all buildings – both new and existing – must be net zero carbon by 2050.The project will initially focus on introducing net zero certification, which is particularly important “BY ‘NET ZERO CARBON’ WE MEAN BUILDINGS THAT PRODUCE NO CARBON EMISSIONS ANNUALLY THROUGH STRICT LEVELS OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND THE USE OF ON-SITE OR OFF-SITE RENEWABLE ENERGY ”Pictured: The redevelopment in Elephant and Castle, London, UKGREEN BUILDING 115