Germany has a new goal: climate neutrality should be achieved not in 2050, but as early as 2045!

Fundamental rights require more climate protection efforts

The federal government did not choose the time limit of 2045 voluntarily. The corresponding amendment to the law is necessary because the Federal Constitutional Court, in a groundbreaking ruling, required a reform of the Climate Act, which was only passed in December 2019, by the end of 2022. From the point of view of the Constitutional Court, the current Climate Protection Act does not go far enough; parts of it are incompatible with fundamental rights. There are insufficient specifications for reducing emissions from 2031. Since the criticized Climate Protection Act only provided for measures to reduce emissions up to 2030, the dangers of climate change would be postponed to periods thereafter and thus to the detriment of the younger generation. Limiting the rise in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees, and if possible to 1.5 degrees, as planned, would then only be possible with increasingly urgent and short-term measures.

The judge's reasoning states specifically and clearly: "... one generation must not be allowed to use up large parts of the CO2 budget under a comparatively mild reduction burden if this would at the same time leave subsequent generations with a radical reduction burden and expose their lives to comprehensive losses of freedom. In future, even serious losses of freedom to protect the climate may be proportionate and constitutionally justified; precisely for this reason, there is then a risk of having to accept considerable losses of freedom. Because the course for future burdens on freedom has already been set by the current regulation of permissible emission quantities, the effects on future freedom must, from today's perspective, be proportionate. The objective legal protection mandate of Article 20a of the Basic Law also includes the need to treat the natural foundations of life with such care and to leave them to posterity in such a condition that subsequent generations can continue to preserve them not only at the price of radical abstinence themselves."

The legislator is forced to make improvements accordingly. While Germany has so far only joined the EU climate targets, national targets must now be given greater weight. In addition to the overarching goal of climate neutrality by 2045, intermediate targets are also important. Among other things, greenhouse gases are to be reduced by 65% ​​by 2030 and emissions in general by 88% by 2040. A herculean task, especially since ecology and economy must be promoted in harmony.

 

Climate neutrality: a major challenge and a task for society as a whole

What does climate neutrality actually mean? Put simply, our climate is not affected by our activities. We therefore either do not cause any greenhouse gas emissions or we significantly reduce our CO2 emissions and compensate for the CO2 emitted elsewhere.

Of course, it is not just the legislature that is required to act - we are all required to act if we do not want to fail! It sounds like a platitude, but it is nevertheless an irrefutable fact. Climate protection and sustainability are not a task for a few individuals, but a collective responsibility and, above all, a task for our generation, as the Constitutional Court also expressly stated in its reasoning for the ruling.

 

Sharing promotes sustainability

Sustainability through restriction alone cannot be the motto. Smart, progressive solutions are needed. At the forefront: sharing concepts. Sharing in itself is of course not an innovation - it has always been part of everyday life, is the essence of neighborhood help, ride sharing centers, libraries, a commandment of religious doctrines, a real challenge in raising children and, moreover, an undeniably nice human trait. The focus of the sharing economy referred to here is not the sandwich that is only half as big after being shared, which the donor would have liked to eat whole himself. The sharing economy stands for more conscious, resource-saving demand behavior: the shared, temporary use (collaborative consumption) of something. The driver of this changed behavior is not least a change in culture and values: using instead of owning, sustainability and being social are in the foreground. The compelling logic of the new culture of sharing made possible and promoted by the web is clear from the example of the drill: there is at least one functioning drill in almost every household. In the USA there are around 80 million of them, they are only used for around 13 minutes(!) in their lifetime and thus spend most of their time unused in the closet. Even the vehicle that is only used alone is known to be more stationary than moving. Both are the opposite of sustainable. Sharing drills and cars counteracts this. Accordingly, sharing and digital sharing platforms have already become established in many areas - just think of the success stories and disruptive power of Uber in mobility or Airbnb in accommodation.

 

Sustainability in the real estate world? It's all about the inventory!

While sharing has long been common practice for cars, accommodation and drilling machines, there is still a lot of catching up to do in the commercial real estate world. The industry is being called upon like no other to provide answers for greater sustainability. Why? Construction and buildings are responsible for 40% of global CO2 emissions. Traffic between home and work further increases environmental pollution. Sealing by settlement and traffic areas is another critical issue, accounting for 15% of Germany's total area. The translation of sustainability into real estate and spaces is therefore both an enormous challenge and an opportunity.

What have developers, planners, financiers, associations and politicians been focusing on so far? Energy purchasing (procurement perspective), energy optimization of building envelopes and systems technology (engineering perspective) and building certificates, mostly for administrative buildings (investment and marketing perspective). So certification is being eagerly sought, according to LEED, BREEM, DGNB or a self-invented label (shame on anyone who thinks evil of this), and impressive architecture, often on what was once greenfield sites, is being realized and admired. All of this has not been enough so far and has not allowed less sustainable buildings - the vast majority - to disappear from the planet. The world is already built on. The devil's advocate would therefore not be entirely unreasonable to say: these shiny new building facades are tomorrow's hazardous waste. The most sustainable building is the one that is not built.

The key to sustainability must therefore be found for the existing building. In fact, it is already obvious here, more precisely in its utilization. Better utilization of the "already there" space is the magic word. However, the required space utilization cannot be achieved by closely spaced desks in open-plan offices. Moreover, the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic shows that a corresponding workplace layout is not a really healthy option. The issue of health in rooms has, surprisingly late, finally become a matter of awareness and will and must remain there, to protect employees and guests, out of operator and employer responsibility and, last but not least, to promote well-being, creativity and productivity in the workplace.

 

Revolution through office sharing

So how can the necessary sustainability revolution in administrative buildings and offices succeed? Here too, sharing can make a decisive, if not the decisive, contribution to the solution. Translated into the real estate industry, the sharing concept means: higher space utilization equals more efficient use of resources equals less property for the same result. Ergo: the more sharing, the less property is needed. This means: less new construction, less surface sealing, less commuting, less resource consumption, less CO2 per working hour and square meter.

How does this work in practice? You or your team share an office, desks, conference room, training room or meeting area with other people, teams, companies. This can happen simultaneously — coworking — or at different times. In the latter case, everyone has the workspace exclusively for themselves at their own time. Everyone benefits from shared use of lower costs, flexibility and needs-based space and work options.

Which office spaces are considered? The right question would be which ones are not?! In principle, there is potential in any space that is not used 365/24/7, and practically none - whether owned, rented or sublet - is. In fact, offices are unoccupied up to 70% of the time, e.g. due to space reserves, restructuring, part-time work, out-of-office days, too much space. Over 500 million square meters of office space in Germany alone, many times that worldwide. Ready for plug & work. This is shown by numerous analyses and occupancy measurements - mind you, from the time before Corona and before the mass expansion of home offices. Working "at home" will no longer return to the level before lockdown. The temporary vacancies and, due to the economic upheavals, in some cases also permanent vacancies are even greater today.

 

Advantage temporal and spatial flexibility

Sharing is not only sustainable, but also enables the temporal and spatial office flexibility that is needed more than ever in a working world that has changed even more since Corona - keywords: home office, coworking, new work. Teams, freelancers, companies are dynamic. However, the office market is characterized by rigid long-term rental contracts. The offers from coworking operators (few locations, mainly open space, comparatively expensive, standard workspace, together with third parties) are not enough. What is needed is a wide range of cost-efficient, temporally and spatially flexible workspaces - nothing less than Office as a Service. Everywhere where people have to or want to work, whether in the city or in the country. In fact, there are offices and workspaces practically everywhere. As I said, the world is built up. This must be used.

Incidentally, space sharing is also an interesting option for corporate real estate managers and shareholders who want to invest less money in bricks and mortar. Budget restrictions, financing, balance sheet optimization, core business focus are not the only reasons. Project-based work, short product life cycles and rapid organizational changes require solutions that are flexible in terms of time and space. Appropriate providers and marketers of space and infrastructure could therefore make many a corporate real estate manager happy. Instead of owning or permanently renting square meters with a potential vacancy rate, "pay per use" is a core principle of the sharing economy.

 

“Airbnb” for the office world: ShareYourSpace

What is needed is a hub, a marketplace, to make this potential available. The PropTech company ShareYourSpace provides such a platform with its digital platform of the same name. ShareYourSpace has translated the Airbnb principle into the office world. Sharing in the office market is made possible by networking space owners and space seekers, structured searches, simple presentation, inquiry, booking and payment processes, mobile access, localization and local area searches. On ShareYourSpace, anyone with office space (whether owner or tenant) can offer their temporarily available workspaces, and anyone who needs workspace (from the self-employed to corporations) can book the office that suits their use case. Whether it's a technically advanced office for six months for a large project team, an inexpensive desk every Monday, or a spontaneous conference room with a view of the skyline for a customer meeting tomorrow.

The immediate advantages: The landlord earns money with his space and reduces his space costs. The tenant finds his ideal temporary office - in terms of location, size, furnishings, price. Maximum flexibility for both parties. In addition, this contributes to climate protection, from which we all benefit.

On shareyourspace.com you can already find offers in over 80 cities and regions in Germany, and more are being added all the time, including not only classic offices, but also unusual workspaces, for example in showrooms, on boats, in cinemas and on the ski slopes.

 

Ecosystem with complementary building blocks as an accelerator

An ecosystem of complementary offers and services for a flexible, sustainable office world that has developed rapidly in recent years makes workspace sharing easier. These include security solutions such as digital access controls and geofencing, sensors in the office and at the workplace, IT as a service, usage-dependent building control, health protection such as staysafe for workspaces from ShareYourSpace cooperation partner TÜV SÜD and, last but not least, the networking of mobility and working environments as part of smart city concepts. The market for short-term rental and leasing is becoming increasingly established.

The result: Sharing brings flexibility to office and working environments. In addition, in the spirit of the great challenge of climate protection, the strongest possible lever for more sustainability is being used in the real estate industry, a large, global, previously unsustainable economic sector: space is being used more efficiently, resources and the environment are being protected.

 

Participation is the order of the day!

Speaking of climate protection as a collective task: Anyone with an office or office supplies can participate in office sharing - multinational corporations, medium-sized companies, small businesses, startups, authorities, hotels, asset managers, freelancers, etc. The more people take part, the greater the effect and the closer we get to the goal of climate neutrality by 2045. With this in mind: let us all be sharing and climate heroes. Be smart. Be sustainable. ShareYourSpace!