News and press releases - VELUX Media Centre | VELUX Group

VELUX at COP28

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 20:20:44 +0100

The Paris agreement was signed in 2015 and this year marks the halfway point to 2030, when many of the world’s governments have set targets to limit the rise of global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. As with previous COP attendances, VELUX is present to contribute to discussions and share knowledge about the built environment and the role of the construction sector in addressing climate change.

VELUX intends to contribute to setting the framework for action at COP by organising several events both independently and in partnership with others. Here is an overview of the VELUX Group’s presence at COP28 in Dubai.

VELUX COP28 events

Nordic Private Public Partnerships: Sustainable Collaboration Driving Environmental Progress in Climate Innovation

Time: Saturday, 2 December 9:30 – 10:15 (GST)

Location: Nordic Pavilion

Topic: This forum will explore the effectiveness of a unified approach that bridges the public and private sectors, fostering more impactful, coordinated, and sustainable measures for combating climate change. The Nordic model of government-business cooperation serves as a powerful example of how such collaborative partnerships can shape effective roadmaps towards carbon neutrality, enabling the resolution of urgent global challenges and the acceleration of climate action.

Speakers: Kristín Linda Árnadóttir, Deputy CEO of Landsvirkjun ; Representative from Denmank (TBC) ; Representative from Finland (TBC); Julie Kjestrup, VELUX A/S

Organiser: Green by Iceland

Market Transformation Activation: Preparing for Paris 2024

Time: Saturday, 2 December 16:00 – 17:30 (GST)

Location: Buildings Pavilion

Topic: The leaders of the private sector recognize the importance of the Buildings Breakthrough and are strongly supportive. This event will explore the tangible steps private sector actors in the built environment can and need to take before the presentation of the Buildings Breakthrough during the ministerial Global Forum in Paris in March 2024.

In a first session with CEO and C-suite representatives, they will discuss how the Market Transformation shared action agenda will convey the business actions and strongly support building breakthrough achievements. This will be followed by a session discussing levers of change from a number of perspectives. The overall aim is to collect inputs and integrate participants' actions that can then be taken forward towards the Global Forum in March 2024.

Speakers: Yves-Laurent Sapoval, Conseiller Direction générale de l'Aménagement du Logement et de la Nature, French Government ; Manish Pant, EVT International Operations, Schneider Electric ; Chris Seymour, Mott MacDonal Regional Director, RICS ; Juan Caballero, Chief of Programs, Build Change ; Lori Ferris, Architecture 2030 ; Judy Zakreski or Ryan Colker, ICC

Organisers: VELUX and WBCSD, in partnership with ARUP

Under2 Coalition General Assembly - Buy green to go green: Winning the race for jobs and investment through zero carbon steel and concrete procurement

Time: Sunday, 3 December 14:00 - 15:30 (GST)

Location: Intercontinental Dubai Festival City

Topic: Steel and concrete production are responsible for 15% of global emissions – and demand continues to rise. We need urgent action now! Governments can kick-start the production of green steel and concrete by using their powers as purchasers and regulators. The prize for early movers is enormous - the global green transition will be built with steel and concrete. Companies can help shape the market and attract investment by committing now to buy low emission steel and concrete products.

VELUX will take part in the case study presentation and discussion Raising the level of ambition: How private sector leaders are driving action on industrial decarbonisation and how public sector bodies can help strengthen the case for investors, where companies will have the opportunity to talk about why they think it is important to focus on reducing the amount of energy used, and pollution caused by the products that go into building construction.

Case study speakers: Jason Langer, Group Managing Director, Projects, Robert Bird Group ; Paul Toyne, Practice Leader, Sustainability, Grimshaw Architects ; Helen Walter-Terrinoni, Director-Global Climate Policy, Trane Technologies ; Fleming Voetmann, Vice President External Relations and Sustainability, the VELUX Group ; Moderated by Jen Carson, Head of Industry, Climate Group

Organiser: Climate Group

Building the Future: Decarbonising Materials for a Sustainable and Resilient Tomorrow

Time: Tuesday, 05 December 8:00 – 9:30 (GST)

Location: Goals House, Concrete, Alserkal Avenue

Topic: Decarbonising materials used in new buildings is a critical step in addressing climate change and achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. This process involves reducing the carbon emissions associated with the production, transportation, and use of construction materials. To understand how we can integrate low-carbon or carbon-neutral alternatives, KOMPAS VC and VELUX will convene a roundtable of policymakers, research institutions and leaders from the construction industry, to explore how we can decarbonise the materials used in new buildings, and discuss the funding, investment and innovation needed.

Organisers: Kompas VC, Goals House and VELUX

Scaling corporate climate action - investing in forests for climate, nature, and people

Time: Wednesday, 06 December 11:00 – 12:00 (GST)

Location: Panda Pavillion

Topic: World leaders, governments, and companies, are worryingly behind on delivering the promise to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. This event convenes governments, companies, and NGOs that are already taking action to finance nature-based solutions and implementation of forest protection and restoration to reduce and remove carbon emissions. The event will showcase examples of forest carbon initiatives: the partnership between the VELUX Group and WWF and the Trinational Alliance for the Atlantic Forest Restoration. The event will focus on the urgent need to scale forest carbon efforts and how to inspire other actors to invest in high-integrity and high-quality forest carbon projects to ensure triple benefits and a move beyond voluntary carbon credit markets.

Speakers: Dan Jørgensen, Danish Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy; Tom Okello, Executive Director, National Forestry Authority, Uganda; Fleming Voetmann, Vice-President, External Relations and Sustainability, The VELUX Group; A representative from the Trinational Alliance for the Atlantic Forest Restoration, TBC. THe event will be moderated by Fran Price, WWF Forest Practice Lead.

Organisers: WWF & VELUX

You can view a recording of the event online here.

Roundtable on Circularity (by invitation only)

Time: Friday, 08 December 11:00 – 12:00 (GST)

Location: Meeting room 3 at the UNGABC pavilion

Topic: Humanity currently uses resources at an unsustainable rate and demand for materials is set to double again by 2030, compared to 2010¹. Half of global raw materials extraction goes into the world’s built environment² and the sector generates one third of the world's overall waste and around 30% of the global waste³, and over a third of global CO2 emissions (UN Global Building Alliance 2022). Thereby the construction sector plays a major role in meeting the Paris Agreement and creating a circular economy.

Speakers: Jamie Rusby, Group Sustainability Director, VELUX A/S ; Leena Ylä-Mononen, Executive Director, European Environment Agency

Organisers: Danish Association of Engineers (IDA) & VELUX

Circularity in Built Environment: Sustainable Collaboration Driving Environmental Progress in Climate Innovation

Time: Friday, 08 December 12:30 – 13:30 (GST)

Location: Danish pavilion

Organisers: State of Green & VELUX

Roundtable: Transition Plans

Time: Saturday, 09 December 11:00 – 12:30 (GST)

Location: WMBC Business Pavilion

Topic: Following up on last years discussions this event focuses on business and finance engagement around the green transition, and its links to nature, given that the 9th of December is considered a thematic day on ‘nature, land use and oceans’.

Speakers: Jamie Rusby, Group Sustainability Director, VELUX A/S

Organiser: CLG UK

Roundtable on CO2 reduction in the Built Environment

Time: Saturday, 09 December 12:30 – 13:30 (GST)

Location: UNGABC or State of Green

Organiser: VELUX

Urgency, challenges, and solutions to reduce Carbon emissions from buildings.

Time: Saturday, 09 December 15:00 – 16:00 (GST)

Location: Danish pavilion

Topic: The construction sector is responsible for one third of global CO2 emissions and still only a few countries has set legislative requirement to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings during the lifetime of the building. The built area is expected doubled before 2060, when compared to 2020 bringing a need to evaluate Carbon Emissions from materials and construction processes, together with the in operation phase. At this session we will make a stocktake on the current situation, discuss the urgency to reduce CO2 emissions from buildings and bring forward best case examples with the objective to bring forward political recommendations.

Organisers: State of Green & VELUX

VELUX on site at COP28:

Julie Kjestrup, Head of Policy and Thought Leadership
julie.kjestrup@velux.com

On site dates: 30 Nov - 7 December

Topic areas: Sustainable buildings, Energy efficiency, renovation, IEQ/multiple benefits, Value chain decarbonisation and partnerships, EU policy/advocacy/partnerships

Fleming Voetmann, Vice President External Relations & Sustainability
fleming.voetmann@velux.com

On site dates: 30 Nov - 7 December

Topic areas: Sustainable buildings, energy efficiency, whole life carbon, renovation, indoor environmental quality/multiple benefits, value chain decarbonisation and partnerships, international advocacy and policy

Jamie Rusby, Group Director Sustainability
james.rusby@velux.com

On site dates: 6-9 December

Topic areas: Decarbonisation and circular economy in manufacturing (building materials and components)

Kurt Emil Eriksen, Director of Public Affairs, Region North and CEE
kurt.emil.eriksen@velux.com

On site dates: 7-12 December

Topic areas: Building regulations, energy efficiency, carbon requirement to buildings, LCA, sustainability

The VELUX Group and WWF embark on historic forest project estimated to contribute a saving of around one million tonnes of CO2 towards Uganda’s Paris Agreement pledge

Thu, 04 Nov 2021 11:09:38 +0100

The ‘Natural Forest Regeneration for Enhanced Carbon Stocks in the Albertine Rift’ (FRECAR) project will be led by WWF-Uganda in partnership with the National Forestry Authority of Uganda. A formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in March 2021, and the Ugandan Government fully endorses the project.

WWF and the VELUX Group announce the official launch of an innovative forest regeneration project that will serve as Uganda’s largest ever contribution to its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). The approximately 34,000-hectare project is expected to provide a saving of around one million tonnes of CO₂. All carbon emissions reductions or removals generated from the project funded by the VELUX Group, will serve as a contribution to the government of Uganda and help enhance the conditional NDCs.

The Natural Forest Regeneration for Enhanced Carbon Stocks (FRECAR) project is located in the Albertine Rift in Uganda, an area of exceptional faunal and moderate floral endemism which spans five nations. The forest regeneration project is the first of five such projects included in the 20-year long partnership between WWF and the VELUX Group launched in 2020.

The official launch of the Uganda FRECAR project took place at a virtual inception meeting, due to the on-going country-wide lockdown in Uganda. The successful meeting had participation from a large group of stakeholders including the National Forestry Authority of Uganda, representatives from the local communities, the carbon development consultancy, Face the Future, WWF Denmark, and WWF Uganda.

Led by WWF-Uganda, in partnership with Uganda’s National Forestry Authority (NFA), the FRECAR project will entail regenerating the Murchison-Semuliki landscape (Kagombe and Bugoma CFRs) in the Albertine Rift. A biodiversity hotspot, this region boasts 6,568 plant species and 1,833 terrestrial vertebrates in its tropical moist forests. However, the Murchison-Semuliki landscape has suffered a 66% decline in forest cover in the last two decades alone, one of the highest deforestation rates in Uganda. Despite most of Uganda’s protected areas being concentrated here, pressure from agricultural land use, illegal timber logging and human settlement have led to significant forest degradation. Unsustainable agricultural use alone has led to an 88% reduction of the forest area in the Kagombe region, while more than half has been lost in Bugoma.

Commenting on the official endorsement and launch of the FRECAR project, Tom Okello, Executive Director of National Forestry Authority in Uganda, stated that he was excited about the project that is meant to reverse the forest cover loss in the project area. In fact, more than 60% of the forests in this region have been lost between 2005 and 2015^v.

Following the formal kick-off meeting and specialised technical meetings held in July, it is expected that the tree planting will commence in Spring 2022. The validation process of the amount of carbon to be delivered by the Uganda forest project is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022.

The monumental FRECAR restoration and conservation project will serve as a cornerstone of Uganda’s Vision 2040 and National Development Plan III. By focusing on preserving forest corridors, it will play a significant role in supporting the Ugandan government’s efforts to return its natural landscapes back to 1990 levels.

To be delivered over the next 20 years, the FRECAR project is currently in the implementation phase. Future phases of the project will include a plan for planting trees to facilitate natural forest restoration. This will be implemented alongside REDD approaches – focused on addressing the drivers of deforestation and degradation of the existing natural forests, and carried out in close collaboration with local communities and other stakeholders in the landscape. WWF-Uganda will undertake a decade of monitoring in the Kagombe-Bugoma landscape. This will focus on determining the impacts of the project on carbon, biodiversity, communities, and individual households living in the area.

The WWF and VELUX partnership - working together to capture VELUX historical CO₂

WWF International and the VELUX Group have launched one of the most ambitious corporate climate and nature actions seen, taking responsibility for both past and future carbon emissions. This commitment forms part of a historic 20-year global partnership between WWF International and the VELUX Group which will deliver a significant part of the company’s commitment to become Lifetime Carbon Neutral by 2041.

The VELUX Group has joined the Science Based Targets initiative, committing to the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious 1.5°C reduction pathway and by 2030 become a carbon neutral company and have halved the CO₂ across its value chain. This commitment will see the VELUX Group’s historical carbon footprint – 5.6 million tonnes of CO2 including a 25% buffer (scope 1 and 2) emitted since it was founded in 1941 – captured in five forest conservation projects developed and run by WWF. In this long-term partnership, WWF and VELUX Group will drive conservation results based on our shared interest in protecting and restoring forests globally.

For more information on Lifetime Carbon Neutral and the forest conservation projects at the heart of the partnership with WWF, please visit Velux | WWF (panda.org).