Three hundred construction companies have been awarded Chartered Environmentalist status by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) this week. To get such a mark, the CIOB member has to “be able to demonstrate (through qualifications and experience) competence, knowledge and engagement in sustainable environmental management and development.”

The wording on the CIOB’s statement for some reason recalls Greenbang’s own attempt to gain marks of distinction – or Brownie badges. Greenbang remembers to this day the pressure she felt as she carved a horse’s head into a bar of soap. Heaven alone knows what badge she was trying to earn – junior mafia art, perhaps?

But back to the builders. Here’s some more:

Michael Brown CIOB deputy chief executive said, “Construction is an environmental industry and its importance to such issues like sustainability, energy efficiency and climate change cannot be underestimated. We know that the buildings we live and work in are the largest source of carbon emissions and our members and other professionals can be part of the solution to that problem.
“When we talk about the environment and those topics that challenge us like climate change we should also remember that these are international issues and not just local ones. So it is with some pride that we have CIOB members in the UK and abroad who are qualified Chartered Environmentalists.
“We see the role of the Chartered Environmentalist as an important part in the promotion of those values and beliefs that the construction industry needs to positively embrace.”

• Property Federation: govt needs to give less chat, more cash
• How NOT to cover energy news
• Is the post-cheap-oil, de-globalized future upon us?
• Could we power the world with just clean energy?
• Saudi Arabia’s domestic thirst for oil threatens world markets
• Report: Good policies trump wealth in making Africa’s cities ‘green’
• Secure energy future can’t be built by private sector alone
• IEA: Six years to change energy, carbon course … or else
• By 2035, world is on track to use 53 percent more energy
• Leaders call for three-year, global ‘Clean Revolution’