Harvard Climate Symposium – Discussion of the Voluntary Climate Coalition

Harvard Climate Symposium – Discussion of the Voluntary Climate Coalition

We continue to publish news from the Harvard Climate Symposium: Ways to Progress in Climate and Energy, organized by the Salata Institute for Climate & Sustainability as part of the Harvard Climate Action Week.

GPI Group, together with the GreenUrban Association, is actively developing Green Urbanism initiatives. In this regard, the Symposium block on urban sustainability was very interesting for us.

Harvard presented the HouseZero® project, a laboratory that shows how to rethink familiar buildings. Using digital technologies and monitoring systems, the building learns to consume less energy and adapt to external conditions. This example illustrated how innovation can move from the level of a single house to the level of entire cities. For Kazakhstan, where such examples are particularly significant, they confirm that sustainability is not a theory, but practical solutions that are already being implemented in the world.

Special attention was paid to methane. This gas has a tenfold stronger effect on warming in the short term, and reducing it can be a quick tool to change the situation.
Harvard scientists have shown satellite monitoring data. Analyses have confirmed that the key sources are oil and gas operations, agriculture and landfills. At the same time, the difference between the facilities is enormous: some landfills are practically sealed, while others are major sources of emissions.

For business, not only the environmental aspect is important here, but also the economic aspect, since methane is the same natural gas, and its leaks mean direct financial losses. It is no coincidence that export-oriented companies are the initiators of the introduction of technologies to reduce it, because international markets require “clean fuel”.

Sports became an unusual but vivid topic. A panel at Harvard Business School showed that the sports industry can become not only an object, but also a subject of climate change. An illustrative case of the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle is the first certified zero-carbon arena, which takes into account everything from electrified ice machines in the arena to employee programs.

New approaches to sports paraphernalia were also discussed: sustainable materials, thoughtful production, and waste minimization. For fans, it’s a chance to be a part of the change, and for businesses, it’s an opportunity to combine profit and sustainability.