Greening the buildings sector: Roles for building surveyors

This paper is based on a keynote lecture at the AIBS 2012 International Conference, Melbourne, Australia. Green buildings are key in significantly reducing global CO2 emissions, and are expected to result in net economic benefits (compared to traditional buildings). Yet, the buildings sector is not showing a speedy and widespread implementation of technological solutions, nor does it portray significant behavioural change that may result in reduced CO2 emissions. This paper argues that a number of barriers stand in the way to achieving a timely change in this sector by means of direct regulation or market initiatives. It continues with discussing a novel trend of new governance arrangements that aim to overcome exactly these barriers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the role of building surveyors in these different institutional settings.