Interview: Maria Smith on the rising tide of greenwash

Buro Happold’s new Sustainability Director

Source: Ioana Lupascu

Post-COP26: ‘I’m just as angry, just as hopeful, just as pessimistic’

In this exclusive extended audio interview for our subscribers, Buro Happold’s director of sustainability and physics, Maria Smith, talks about what it was like to be in Glasgow for the full fortnight of the COP26 summit.

They talk about how everyone seems to be using the right words now - and the need to distinguish meaningful intentions from a rising tide of greenwash.

A member of Built Environment Declares, Smith also discusses the results of a recent survey which found overwhelming support for potential policy changes such as mandating whole-life carbon assessments at planning, embedding net-zero in Building Regulations and removing VAT from retrofit projects.

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