We have just submitted our 12th annual report to the UN Global Compact initiative. Read, among other things, why we have decided to work with CO2 reduction in all our projects.

We have just submitted our 12th annual report to the UN Global Compact initiative. In every annual report since 2009, we have reviewed progress on our work with human rights, labour rights, the environment and anti-corruption. As we are a Danish and Scandinavian company, much of what has to do with basic rights is incorporated into legislations and agreements between the involved parties of the labour market. Therefore, reducing the environmental impact of our solutions has been central to our reporting over the years with the Global Compact. This focus has been sharpened in 2020 through a decision to work in a targeted manner with CO2 reduction on all our projects.

Our world is in a state of climate emergency and changing the course is imperative for us. The climate crisis poses a threat to the future of our planet and to humanity - and it requires our firm commitment and our immediate action. Buildings are a major contributor to global warming, and, as architects, we can make an impact by changing our practice and aim for carbon neutrality in the built environment.

To this end, Gottlieb Paludan Architects’ partners have passed a landmark resolution; our top priority is now to engage in the fight against climate change through carbon reduction in our projects. We have narrowed our focus and, although many of United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals are relevant to our industry, we have decided that a strategy and a plan for reducing the carbon footprint will be required in all our projects. Therefore, we are now concentrating our efforts on goal #13: Climate action. Moreover, we continue to comply with the United Nations Global Compact initiative, which includes principles of human rights, labour rights, environment and anti-corruption. 

Some highlights:

• We are in the midst of developing a so called climate tool – a way to measure, report, and verify reductions in all our projects. With this tool, we plan to generate indisputable data that can be the driving force behind responsible and sustainable decisions for our clients, stakeholders and partners.
• Gottlieb Paludan Architects in Denmark and Norway have conducted employee surveys among their own employees and at the parent company AFRY. The analysis of the survey’s 647 responses revealed a number of nuances in employees’ experiences depending on seniority, current life situation, etc.
• Gottlieb Paludan Architects is collaborating with Ph.D. student Marcus Tang Merit and KADK - The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation on a three 3-year industrial PhD research project. The project will investigate how physically disabled users’ experiences of space are mediated and operationalized in the architectural design process.

 

Read more in the report on United Nations Global Compact's website.