Building transformative climate projects

The construction industry has a core problem: we treat every building like a one-off prototype. That means costly learning cycles. Teams disband after handover, knowledge evaporates, and the next project starts from scratch. No wonder ecological innovation struggles to scale. This is why our industry stays inefficient while the world demands better sustainability and resource optimization. In 2008, I launched a research project to rethink building from the ground up: • bio-based materials,  • timber-hybrid systems,  • lower environmental impact,  • and far less energy input. By 2011, we had built our first eight-story wooden building. But I realized even my company, with over a billion turnover and 4,000 people, doesn't make a difference building three or four innovative buildings. The impact stays minimal. The breakthrough came when we stopped trying to scale the company and started scaling the knowledge instead. We created an open-source sharing platform. Instead of keeping our methods internal, we give our complete system to reliable partners in any country. They adapt it to local regulations and styles, but use the same proven core technology. This was the idea behind CREE BUILDINGS Now we have partners across multiple countries building with our system. Every improvement from every project gets shared back to the collective. This is how we create real industry transformation. The results speak for themselves. We execute 43% faster than conventional construction, which means lower interest costs and faster revenue generation for investors. Our operational costs are significantly lower, and tenants pay higher rents for sustainable buildings because corporations need green spaces to meet their carbon-neutral goals. We've proven the business case. Sustainable construction isn't just better for the planet; it's more profitable. But here's what really matters: we have the tools to change this industry right now. We don't need to wait for perfect technology or ideal policies. We just need to stop protecting our knowledge and start sharing it. The construction industry will transform when we move from prototyping every solution to systematically scaling the ones that work. Delivering products instead of headaches is key.

Recently Independent Evaluation Unit, Green Climate Fund published the Health and Wellbeing, Food, and Water Security (HWFW) Result Area which reflects a profound truth embedded in climate action: Health, food, and water security are essential components of human survival and foundational pillars of any equitable, resilient, and thriving society. Climate change exacerbates vulnerabilities, disrupts livelihoods, and undermines fundamental human rights to health, nutrition, and access to safe water. Without targeted action on these fronts, sustainable development will remain a distant dream. The Paris Agreement and the #SDGs enshrine the global commitment to tackle climate change while ensuring human dignity. The HWFW Result Area operates at the nexus of these priorities, addressing the immediate impacts of climate change to enable systemic, paradigm-shifting change across sectors. The GCF's investments in climate-smart agriculture, access to potable water, and disaster resilience have saved lives and sustained livelihoods in vulnerable regions, such as by introducing drought-resistant crops and building resilient water infrastructure, water conservation and early warning systems. Yet, as the evaluation report reveals, we are faced with both progress and essential challenges that demand urgent, collective action. Enhanced and diversified climate financing is critical for driving transformative change in food, water, and health systems in vulnerable communities. With nearly USD 7 billion already committed to HWFW-tagged programs and significant co-financing leveraged as catalytic investments, it's clear that innovative financing models—through equity investments, de-risking approaches, and blended finance—can unlock much-needed resources to reach the target for USD 1.15 trillion per year. Building donor confidence and strengthening future programming calls for collective action. Governments and global stakeholders must prioritize integrated approaches that link health, food, and water systems while adopting rigorous tracking indicators to drive accountability. Embracing co-benefits such as gender inclusion and social impact, and ensuring sustained, predictable donor funding are not just strategic imperatives—they are moral responsibilities. Let's unite to build resilient, climate-smart systems that safeguard lives and livelihoods around the world. Full report is here https://lnkd.in/gDvp_ajG #climateaction #watersecurity  #foodsecurity  #climateresilience  #globalsustainability  #healthandclimate  #adapttoclimatechange  #climatesmartagriculture  #biodiversityconservation  #genderequality  #healthyplanet  #climatejustice  #communityresilience  #greenfinancing  

I co-authored an op-ed in Project Syndicate with Bogolo Joy Kenewendo highlighting the opportunity to avoid a catastrophic breakdown of our planet’s ecosystems. Making transformative progress in restoring ecosystems is possible if we have the right financial strategies and policies to facilitate and encourage investment in #NatureBasedSolutions The eThekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, #SouthAfrica, serves as an inspiring example of how nature-positive projects can drive positive change. Through river restoration and invasive species management, the project not only improved environmental health but also created over 1,000 jobs. Yet, nature-based investments receive only a fraction of the funding that traditional climate solutions attract. To change this, both public and private sectors must integrate nature into decision-making, support nature-positive projects, and reduce investment risks. We need policies that ensure fair, inclusive access to climate finance, particularly for Indigenous communities and smallholder farmers who play a crucial role in conservation. In terms of political momentum, financial innovation, and technological capabilities, the stage is set for rapid progress in restoring and preserving nature. World leaders must seize this moment to build a transformative investment agenda that recognizes that, without nature, our planet and our economies cannot survive. Read the editorial on Project Syndicate here: https://lnkd.in/d5S_ZunZ

The global push for a standardized “green transition” leapfrogging fossil fuel, strict carbon pricing and donor-driven conditions simply doesn’t fit Africa’s development context. In my latest ( long but needed ) article, I examine why these popular frameworks risk stalling both climate and economic progress, then offer alternative approaches grounded in on-the-ground realities across Zambia, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya and the DRC. Key takeaways: Dual-track energy build-out: We cannot leapfrog power infrastructure like we did with mobile phones. Africa needs simultaneous investment in foundational grids and renewables, so development and decarbonization advance hand in hand. Fair carbon budgets: Rather than a blunt price, allocations should reflect historical emissions, population and adaptation costs. South Africa’s phased-in tax with targeted exemptions offers one model of equity in action. Sovereign climate finance: Too often, only 45% of funding aligns with national plans. We must insist that every grant and loan serve country-determined priorities, avoiding the trap of “green conditionality.” Homegrown innovation ecosystems: Technology co-development, local manufacturing, R&D, supportive regulation and IP reform ensures projects endure beyond donor timelines and build lasting capacity. Broad economic transformation: A just transition is more than green jobs. It requires industrial diversification, targeted skills training, social protection, quality-of-work standards and formalizing informal green activities. Ultimately, Africa’s voice in global climate debates should champion development-first actions, climate justice rooted in historical responsibility, sovereign pathways of change and finance metrics that truly match the continent’s needs and contributions. Only then can climate action become a catalyst for and not a barrier to sustainable development.

I was lucky early in my career to work on many large-scale urban projects that had everything: money, tech, political will, public hype. On paper, flawless. On the ground, almost nothing changed. You’ve seen this too: - Squares that win awards but still feel empty. - “Green” districts that don’t shift habits. - Mobility plans that hit KPIs but leave behaviour untouched. These aren’t rare failures, they are the normal outcome of a shallow model of change. —————— Here’s the mistake: We keep treating change as something you build rather than something you stabilise. We deliver new form but ignore the forces that make certain routines feel natural and others impossible. So the old logic of the city stays intact. Old habits swallow the new environment. The result: surface progress, structural inertia. —————— Cities don’t change through construction. They change when a different set of actions starts to feel obvious — when new patterns repeat often enough to become the default way of living. That only happens when design works with the system beneath behaviour: the invitations, norms, and identities that decide what feels viable here. Without that, even the best project becomes decorative. —————— Transformation begins when design perturbs the familiar — when the environment makes new behaviour feel slightly easier, slightly safer, slightly more meaningful than the old one. And when those small differences compound through use until the city rewires itself. Until we design for that, we’re not transforming cities. We’re rearranging the furniture. —————— Audit Questions: Before calling a project “transformative”, ask: • What old routines or assumptions will this actually interrupt? • What new patterns will feel rewarding six months from now? • How will these patterns survive after the project team leaves? • Who now feels invited in — and who still doesn’t? Transformation isn’t a deliverable. It’s what happens when the deeper system starts to behave differently. —————— Next: What transformative projects really look like — and how to make change stick. —————— Every urban project changes people. Few know how to do it on purpose. I share the methods, language, and leverage points from Transformative Cities — the first framework for Cognitive and Enactive Urbanism. 👉 Follow for tools and insights. #TransformativeCities #CognitiveUrbanism #EnactiveUrbanism #UrbanTransformation #BehaviourChange #UrbanDesign #CityMaking #SystemsThinking #UrbanPlanning #PlaceMaking #Cities #BehaviouralScience #DesignForChange #ComplexSystems #PlaceIdentity #SocietalChange #AdaptivePlanning #UrbanPsychology

🎉 Today is a historic day for equitable climate action in the U.S. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $20B in transformative funding through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This is going to be huge! It's huge for many reasons: reducing carbon emissions, driving investment to marginalized communities, and creating jobs. Here are a few examples of how the funding is going to benefit communities and the planet: 🏠 $2 billion to decarbonize and transform American housing. This funding goes to a powerhouse coalition including Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), United Way, Rewiring America, Enterprise Community Partners, and Habitat for Humanity Power Forward Communities ($2 billion award). At least 75% of investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities. 🏦 $5 Billion to the Coalition for Green Capital to catalyze public-private investing in an existing and growing network of green banks. At least 50% of investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities. 💸 $6.97 Billion to Climate United, a collaboration of Calvert Impact, Self-Help Credit Union, and The Community Preservation Corporation. The program will focus on investing in harder-to-reach market segments like consumers, small businesses, small farms, community facilities, and schools—with at least 60% of its investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities, 20% in rural communities, and 10% in Tribal communities. Big shout out to Elemental Excelerator who is partnering with all three of these winners through the National Climate Investment Fund. But that's not all! 🏦 $6 billion through Clean Communities Investment Accelerator will establish hubs that provide funding and technical assistance to community lenders working in low-income and disadvantaged communities, providing an immediate pathway to deploy projects in those communities while also building capacity of hundreds of community lenders to finance projects for years. 100% of capital under the CCIA is dedicated to low-income and disadvantaged communities. Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv, Justice Climate Fund, Appalachian Community Capital, and Native CDFI Network, Inc. will leverage capital deployment and capacity building expertise to drive catalytic impact. For years, the availability of critical financial capital has been a bottleneck to climate action at scale, particularly in marginalized communities. This funding provides a chance to change that dynamic, especially as these public dollars bring multiple times more private capital into the equation. This paradigmatic shift will only reach its potential if these communities and workers can also access the economic benefits of this transition. Every building retrofit, solar installation, and food waste mitigation project requires someone with the skills and job to do the work. Let's go! #climatechange #justtransition #climatefinance #greenjobs

Brilliant, disruptive deep tech solutions will save our climate. But without establishing trust early on, they might never see the light of day. Here’s 6 steps deep tech climate solutions need to take: 1.Prove your scientific and technical credibility Publish peer-reviewed research or invite third-party studies on your technology. If feasible, share your data openly. Green tech startup H2Pro invented a two-stage process that produces hydrogen using less energy. A Nature Energy study showed their method had a lab efficiency of 98.7% compared with the standard 68%. This gave a huge boost of confidence to potential investors and partners, leading to over $100 million in funding since their inception. 2.Show it works in the real world. Sublime Systems is pioneering low-cost, low-carbon cement. They started with a pilot plant that produced only 100 tons of cement per year. For reference, average cement plants produce a million tons a year. But this pilot project was necessary to win the industry and customers' trust. As a result, they received funding for future plants. Notably, the US government selected them among 6 producers for a $1.6 billion grant. 3.Build a reputable network. Being associated with industry leaders, renowned scientists, and institutions rubs off on you. If they believe in you, why shouldn’t others? Build out a robust advisory board with such experts. This isn’t just about their approval — the guidance will actually build a much better product. Sustainability solutions ranging from Watershed to Tetra Pak have all gained credibility from their excellent advisory panels. 4.Leverage grants and partnerships. For example, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) spent over $29 billion in 2023. Partnering with FFRDCs, such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, help climate solutions become market-ready technologies. Knowledge partnerships, such as the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS), are valuable, too. They connect you with communities of relevant professionals — scholars, business leaders, policymakers, and more. 5.Regularly update stakeholders Throughout your journey, communicate honestly with stakeholders about progress, challenges, and milestones. By keeping an open dialogue going, your potential customers remain invested in your mission. It shows your commitment and reliability. Deep tech climate ventures need to focus on their groundbreaking solutions — but they also need to win trust along the way. Without it, you might get stuck in the lab forever. We crafts brand messaging that wins over your stakeholders and establishes trust. Reach out to learn how!

5-Step Climate-led Transformation Framework 🌎 As climate risk becomes a core business concern, companies need a structured approach to embed climate action into strategy, operations, and performance systems. This 5-step framework offers a practical path forward. Step one is about setting a climate aspiration. This requires understanding your current emissions profile, identifying material climate issues, and committing to clear and science-aligned targets that reflect your organization’s ambitions. Step two focuses on developing a climate strategy. This includes assessing climate-related risks and opportunities, engaging key stakeholders, and building an implementation roadmap that connects ambition to action. Step three requires aligning the operating model. It means rethinking business processes, decision-making structures, and resource allocation to support the climate strategy and enable long-term success. Step four is centered on building organizational capability. This involves identifying capability gaps, developing the right skills, and embedding climate priorities into performance metrics and leadership systems. Step five reinforces the importance of monitoring and reporting. Reliable data, transparent disclosure, and regular reviews are critical to tracking progress and ensuring accountability across all business units. The strength of this framework lies in its integration. Climate transformation is not a single project. It must be embedded across functions and continuously updated as risks, technologies, and expectations evolve. Adopting a climate-led approach is no longer a matter of choice. It is a strategic requirement to remain competitive, resilient, and aligned with the future of business. Source: Deloitte #sustainability #sustainable #business #esg #climatechange