The built environment is a central theme of UK and international efforts by policy makers to tackle climate change, which means that it will also be subject to increasingly strict regulation. As a result, construction industry professionals need to consider the impact of emission regulations on their upcoming and future projects, and how they might evolve their practice to incorporate solutions to comply. Solutions need to be not only appropriate but also long-term. Carbon off setting, for example, which for some time has been perceived as a valid solution (and still can be a positive step in some instances), can be fraught with complications. In the absence of strict and standardised regulation, some off-setting schemes have emerged as unattainable (in their 'output' claims) and unreliable. In recent media exposes where huge failings feature, some schemes have also been shown to be costly and detrimental to a firm's reputation. Not all off setting initiatives are bad; in fact, some can be very impactful. However, with the need to act fast to achieve science-based targets of carbon neutrality and net zero, industry leaders are promoting a focus on carbon 'avoidance' as best practice, rather than carbon offsetting. Furthermore, regulation appears to be rewarding long-term solutions and practices that have an immediate positive environmental impact. This shift calls for a radical change in the sector and in the approach to decarbonisation, with a move away from 'reactive' to 'proactive'. This is illustrated in the model by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) (see Figure 3, page 22).
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