Utrecht 7 February 2023 - Last night, Royal Jaarbeurs welcomed the top leaders of the construction, real estate and installation sector to its first 'Transition Dinner'. Jeroen van Hooff, CEO Royal Jaarbeurs: "The construction world is in full swing with future-proofing the sector as the main challenge. Driving and accelerating the development of sustainability in construction is a must. This is why we joined forces with knowledge platform Change Inc. and Dutch Green Building Council (DGBC) for the Transition Dinner." This dinner took place during the Bouwbeurs under the chairmanship of BNR presenter Rens de Jong.
Green future of construction
The Transition Dinner aims to connect CEOs and decision-makers in the construction, real estate and installation sectors to drive and accelerate sustainability. Jan Peter Balkenende, chairman of the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition: "Excellent initiative by Change Inc, the Dutch Green Building Council and Royal Jaarbeurs to organise a Transition Dinner during the Bouwbeurs. Sustainability as a moral duty, social necessity and business opportunity. Ideals and practical insights reinforce each other; this was crystal clear in all contributions and discussions. A very valuable evening!"
Annemarie van Doorn, Director Dutch Green Building Council: "Climate change is happening faster than thought. The built environment is responsible for almost 40% of our energy consumption and almost a third of CO2 emissions in the Netherlands. If we want to build and renovate within the ecological limits of our planet, in addition to energy reduction in buildings we must also work on reducing CO2 emissions caused by building materials and the construction process, both in renovation and new construction. Here, we depend on each other and will have to make agreements, implement changes and hold each other accountable."
Boudewijn Ruitenburg, COO at property developer EDGE Technologies, says: "The transition from brown to green buildings is an absolute must to stay close to the climate goals. This requires leadership and staying the course, even as markets face a headwind for a while."
Transition dinner: driving and accelerating sustainability
Rens de Jong, moderator Transition Dinner: "To meet the Paris goals, we need to work together. And that's why the Transition Dinner is so important. People from the construction, real estate and installation sector around the table, talking about how we can accelerate sustainability in this sector. Beautiful ambiance, inspiring speakers, this tastes like more!"
Jaarbeurs is committed to sustainability. It is one of the company's strategic pillars. Jeroen van Hooff: "The Transition Dinner is fully in line with our ambition to be the most sustainable organiser and facilitator of trade fairs, events and conferences in Europe. In doing so, we want to demonstrably drive and accelerate sustainability within all the industries in which we operate. We are doing this, among other things, at the Bouwbeurs which is currently taking place. We are additionally organising this dinner to connect CEOs and decision-makers in the construction industry." The Transition Dinner was organised in collaboration with the Dutch Green Building Council (DGBC) Foundation and Change Inc. DGBC is the national civil society organisation dedicated to rapidly making the built environment future-proof. Change Inc. is the platform of future-makers, a modern media house that inspires and mobilises.
