The built environment is not a big, well-oiled carbon-emitting machine that we can just turn the dial down on. We are dealing with a complex system with a fragmented value chain that spans many industries, government departments, regulations and areas of concern and influence.

Critical to action on the built environment, then, is systems thinking. This means thinking beyond the actions and roles of each person, group or business and instead considering how we are configured as a sector and the ways that we all influence and impact each other.