Public Development and Infrastructure Council (PDIC) presents an overview of the challenges facing utility infrastructure in the United States. Issues include significant growth in industry and population base in the Southwest and the resulting steep demand curve from the additional residential customers, growth of electric vehicles, and industrial uses that draw on electric and water utilities or require transmission lines to deliver electricity to the grid; the maze of different agencies and regulatory requirements surrounding electric transmission infrastructure across the United States; vehicle electrification demands; increasing electrification of building energy uses as many regions shift away from natural gas, coal, and oil; water infrastructure challenged by changes in climate patterns; increased operational and asset risks to utilities due to climate change; heat and lack of water demanding wildfire management and constraining hydropower and reservoir water supplies; and too much water and sea-level rise affecting design and sustainable location of utility infrastructure, making flood control measures a necessity.

Our bet: In 2050, deconstruction rather than demolition will be the default. This session will examine deconstruction from the perspective of experts in circular economy, design and engineering, and tools needed to support it. Ramboll, Holmes, and Urban Machine will explore the trends and drivers for deconstruction and reuse, from the perspectives of policy, reporting, decarbonization, resource and real estate scarcity, and taxes. The session will introduce how the wrecking-ball approach to demolition has prohibited the circular use of materials and represents incredible value leakage, including sending valuable materials to landfills. The session will include case studies from municipalities requiring deconstruction to ambitious projects propelled by goals of embodied carbon reduction or material reuse. The panel will outline project planning, design, engineering, and detailing strategies that can be applied by the attendees. The discussion will include technologies supporting deconstruction, showcasing how technology can facilitate sustainable solutions and inspire the adoption of circular practices in the built environment, including material passports, digital twins, and Urban Machines robot.

Insurance premiums are only rising as climate change worsens and climate risks increase. In some cases, coverage is becoming unavailable or unaffordable in both commercial and residential markets, especially in coastal areas. This session will address how physical climate risk is impacting insurance, how rising insurance costs are impacting the industry, and how real estate can better manage the unpredictability of insurance costs and availability.

With building materials contributing around 11 percent of global carbon emissions each year, the real estate industry is looking for every available opportunity to drive down embodied carbon and meet new regulations, attract investment, and achieve environmental, social, and governance goals. However, few project teams know exactly what steps are needed and how they can have the greatest impact. Join this session to hear how real estate practitioners are taking concrete steps to reduce embodied carbon at every stage of development. The session features information from ULI's latest interactive resource, "The Developer's Guide to Embodied Carbon: Intervention Points for Building Greener."

The ULI C Change program is working on an industry initiative to accelerate the adoption of internal carbon pricing in the built environment in Europe. This session will provide an update on the strategy that will launch at the C Change Summit in Barcelona in October.

For decades, real estate has viewed the energy system as another vendor and cost center to be managed. Increasingly, the utility industry has become much more than that. Energy providers are a key driver of real estate's ability to meet decarbonization targets and, in return, might be willing to compensate commercial real estate for the flexibility they offer to the power grid. Join senior executives from the utility industry in a real-life interchange with the built environment about how each of them are challenged by the energy transition and, perhaps, how closer collaboration can unlock new opportunities to accelerate the energy transition.

With both tenants and owners trending toward establishing net zero goals, collaborating isn't always as easy as it may seem. Namely, split incentives instill doubt in which party benefits from investments in sustainability and energy conservation measures. Add differing goals, barriers to communication, and ever-changing climate tech solutions, it can get tricky to find common ground much less work together to achieve whole building net zero. In this session, we will uncover the strong business for tenant and owner alignment on net zero goals. Panelists will cover topics including increasing data completeness, driving property value, meeting tenant demand, and addressing the "social" in ESG. Join industry leaders, sustainability experts, and forward-thinking companies to explore practical approaches for collaboration techniques between owners and landlords. Discover the benefits of green leases, shared sustainability goals, and integrated management practices that enhance environmental performance. Whether you're a building owner, a corporate tenant, or a sustainability professional, this session will provide valuable insights and actionable strategies to help you play a pivotal role in the global decarbonization movement.

2023 was the hottest year on record and transportation and the building sector are some of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions in North America. But transportation and real estate are also sectors where the power of choice and thoughtful investment will create positive generational social value and long-lasting collective climate risk management. Join this dynamic discussion about the intersection of industrial real estate development, building electrification, low-carbon materials and construction, climate risk management, and the critical need for domestic electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and charging infrastructure. We will dive into cutting-edge strategies in climate risk management, low-carbon and resilient building design, and practical, real-world examples from across North America where cities, manufacturers, and the building industry are already decarbonizing the whole-building lifecycle and adapting to extreme weather. Innovative solutions to the growing demand for EV charging infrastructure will also be shared, especially in urban areas where equitable access is crucial. The session will also focus on specific government incentives and policies that are driving the shift to a sustainable future by supporting industrial development, EV infrastructure, and building decarbonization.