Smith Mordak, Chief Executive: “Let’s create our new vision of the future, together.”

As the first piece in our perspectives series, UKGBC’s Chief Executive reflects on what we’re working towards as a network, and the golden opportunity we can seize together.

I’ve been in post as chief executive of UKGBC for eight weeks now and while I can still claim no credit for all the incredible work the teams past and present have done, I can impartially say that what we do here is exceptional!

Our research and guidance pull together the frontiers of the sector’s intellect and creativity. Our learning and leadership work blends purpose with deep impact. Our policy and advocacy initiatives coalesce your voices and your insights into calls for a better future. On top of this we gather insights, craft and amplify messages, and facilitate collaborations, all while looking after each other through what is genuinely a wonderfully warm and nurturing team culture.

it’s through vehicles like UKGBC that we can bring about desperately needed systems change, through collective action.

This is all extremely impressive and core to why I took this job, but here’s what’s really exciting: it’s through vehicles like UKGBC that we can bring about desperately needed systems change, through collective action.

Maybe those words make you want to punch the air like a Lioness netting a winning goal. Or maybe they feel as arbitrary as a VAR decision. Let me rephrase.

From energy sources to energy carriers

It’s not news that the heart of humanity’s big sustainability project is a shift away from our reliance on fossil fuels. For over a century, we’ve been able to do all the stuff we do in large part thanks to the juicy chemical energy of zillions of dead creatures from a long, long time ago. Weening ourselves off this system is proving understandably challenging. But here’s the thing, this isn’t just a shift in technology: it’s a shift to powering our society from energy sources instead of energy carriers. When we discovered fossil fuels, it was like we discovered an enormous pile of fully charged batteries lying around. Not appreciating that these fossil-batteries would take millennia to recharge, and that using them up in a fraction of the time that it took to charge them in the first place would lead to environmental disaster, we built our world around things that needed these fossil-batteries.

Our golden opportunity

Humans do live and have lived in many, many different ways and we can adapt to different ways of living now.

Our task now is to build the physical infrastructure, cultural networks, and neural pathways of a different society, one in sync with a source of energy: the sun (wind energy also being technically solar powered). As anyone who’s owned an electric car or a four-year-old smart phone knows, having to organise life around keeping our own batteries charged means a pretty massive change to the basis of our civilisation. Not only do we need to adapt our technologies for making stuff, growing stuff, moving stuff, and generating electricity, we also need to learn how to be unprecedentedly flexible and cooperative in our energy and resource management.

It’s daunting, but I don’t think we should shy away from the magnitude of the change needed. I also don’t think we need to let that magnitude get us down. Humans do live and have lived in many, many different ways and we can adapt to different ways of living now.

Together for transformative impact

This is where organisations like UKGBC come in. Organisations like ours help us to do things differently together. We can do this by collating deep understanding of the visions for change, the challenges frustrating change, and the trends and innovations enabling change; then by reflecting that understanding back, we can build consensus, and deliver that ask to those with decision-making power.

Sustainability isn’t about trying to preserve our current ways of living, but rather about adapting to new ways of living; ways of living that we can fairly and genuinely sustain.

More bluntly, because we’re an industry-wide network we’re not so locked-in to the system. And because we’re empowered by our members, we can credibly ask national and sub-national governments for the regulation and infrastructure needed.

It’s extremely difficult to work differently from the industry around us. I know, I’ve tried! No matter how enlightened an individual engineer or insurer or building-owner is, there’s a limit to what we can do on our own. This can be dispiriting, especially when it feels like nobody else is reacting proportionately to the existentially terrifying threats we’re facing. A breakthrough for me was realizing that sustainability isn’t about trying to preserve our current ways of living, but rather about adapting to new ways of living; ways of living that we can fairly and genuinely sustain. When I think about this, my shoulders drop and my jaw unclenches.

Let’s create a new version of the future, together

It’s time to stop fighting over how to create a decarbonised version of the late 20th century. It’s time to work together to cultivate a 21st century society that will last us into the 22nd century.

I believe that we can do this safely and fairly by pooling our resources, sharing our knowledge, coordinating our action and uniting our voices. We at UKGBC can help, but together, in greater numbers and through broader representation from across the value chain, we’re stronger.

It’s time to stop fighting over how to create a decarbonised version of the late 20th century. It’s time to work together to cultivate a 21st century society that will last us into the 22nd century.

So to all present members, thank you for your continued support, your insights, contributions to guidance and intellectual generosity in building consensus. Now, I invite you to think even more profoundly about what you’re doing and why. I ask you to share your progress and challenges even more honestly, to collaborate even more deeply and allow your personal purpose to flourish even more authentically.

To all past members, thank you for your support in getting us to where we are, and I’d personally like to welcome you back to be part of this next exciting chapter for our network.  Today, there are so many ways you can engage with us – from joining our Systems Change working groups, to partnering with us in a variety of capacities on our groundbreaking Resilience and Nature Roadmap. This is in addition to a whole host of member benefits, created to support your organisation to have greater sustainability impact.

To all potential members, I invite you to join us and become part of this transformational network; committed to overcoming the barriers that hold back progress and co-creating the solutions that can drive each one of you, and our industry forwards.  We all stand a better chance of emerging safe and healthy into our different future if we act together.

To everyone, I’m punch-the-air excited to be here, on the pitch with you all! With this phenomenal team and the strength of our broad membership we will work to bring about desperately needed systems change through collective action, leaving no one behind.

Learn more about Smith Mordak and their arrival at UKGBC. Our network is now over 700 members strong, to learn more about what it means to be a member and how you can join us on this critical journey, click here.

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