World Yet to Realise the Impact of Built Environment on Sustainability

At Johnson Controls sustainability has been at the heart of business and it is fundamental to everything that the company does. And it has been like this for the last 135 years, said Rohan Chopra, Regional Director, Sustainable Infrastructure, Johnson Controls.

In a conversation with Sustainability Middle East, Mr Chopra said that climate change is a pressing challenge today in the world which is why Johnson Controls has set a strict net-zero target for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2040.

"Not just internally, being responsible global citizens, we are helping other organisations to reduce their carbon emissions, thereby creating a sustainable environment," he said.

Talking about digitalisation and the company's industry-leading platform 'Open Blue', Chopra said it was a brilliant technology which uses big data and artificial intelligence to drive not just energy efficiency, but also operational efficiency.

"This is a brilliant platform to track your carbon emissions, greenhouse gas emission, throughout your net-zero journey."

What the world does not realise is the impact that the built environment has on sustainability, added Chopra. Typically, buildings contribute close to 40% to the global emissions and we still have a tendency to take our buildings for granted.

Chopra said: "At Johnson Controls we have saved close to 35 million tonnes of carbon across the world through our energy efficient technologies and our smart buildings portfolio.

"We have recently been acknowledged with the Platinum Sustainability Rating which places us in the Top 1 % of the 100,000 companies evaluated globally. This means we are out there in the world, creating an environment for healthy places, healthy people, and thereby a healthy planet."

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