星空传媒

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I stood here today and just made a few bland statements. The storm is coming." That was the stark message from Terry Wyatt as he warned that climate change is a real issue which must be tackled now. The hot summer of 2003 was a wake up call. 鈥淲e are living in a fools鈥� paradise if we simply say that the weather is getting better in summers! In a few months鈥� time there will be storms and floods 鈥� it鈥檚 waiting to hit us. That鈥檚 the simple message to get across.鈥�

Wyatt warned that because the UK hasn鈥檛 experienced the full effects of climate change, we have not done enough to prepare for it, or to mitigate it. But the President said that this is a long-term issue. 鈥淭his is the calm before the storm. The message I鈥檓 going to open this conference with is that sustainability isn鈥檛 just a trend.鈥�

Wyatt strongly emphasised the responsibility of CIBSE members: 鈥淭he business of climate change is important to us in construction because buildings are weapons of mass destruction. They are the major source of carbon, so the solution has to come from us. We know what鈥檚 needed and we know how to go about it.鈥�

But Wyatt added that government must play its part. He had four key challenges for government. The first is to make the 2050 goal of 60% carbon reduction a real commitment. 鈥淲e need to do this in order to win and keep long-term investment, otherwise investors will start withdrawing their cash from projects before 2020.鈥�

He also said that energy prices must reflect the true environmental cost of using fossil fuels. 鈥淐heap energy has been government mantra for 40 years in this country. This needs to change to more realistic pricing for industry. We need to pay for the damage caused by fossil fuels and price these energy sources accordingly鈥�.

Government must take the lead in all its own construction, said Wyatt. 鈥淪chools would be a good start. We could educate the next generation about sustainability.鈥�

The President鈥檚 final message was that all this needs to be done as quickly as possible if we have any hope of reaching goals set out in the government鈥檚 own energy White Paper.