Since 1990 there have been six iterations of Synthesis Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – that means that for the past 32 years we have known as a global community that the need for reducing carbon emissions is mission critical for the stability of our social, economic, and environmental systems.

In each report the scientific evidence is more conclusive that the continued emission of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion is causing increases in average global temperatures, destabilisation of global climate drivers, increased frequency of extreme events including wildfires, heatwaves, droughts, and floods.

For more than 30 years we have known that the energy systems that power civilisation and the cities, transport networks and economic activities that underpin it must transition away from coal, oil, and gas to clean, renewable sources. We have made plans, developed policies, set targets and in some respects begun the process of demonstrating that change is both possible and financially and socially acceptable.

But, as the 6^th Synthesis Report released this month shows, we have not acted quickly enough. The pace of meaningful action in the built environment remains ’business as usual’, even in the face of clear evidence that a substantial share of the responsibility to lower emissions lies at our feet.