The world was shocked in 2021. Now is the time to act
The rising star of the construction industry in recent years, prefabricated modular steel buildings, spent 2021 growing despite the pandemic and other negative developments around the world. The sector will continue to progress in 2022 in the light of new developments in its sustainability vision within the scope of the EU Green Deal. The Board Member responsible for Marketing & Human Resources Departments of Dorce Prefabricated Buildings&Construction Inc., Murat Kayaalp, evaluated the year 2021 in this context and explained what will happen in the sector in the global arena next year.
We Can Delay No Longer
Increasing population and unplanned use of resources are dragging the world towards a point of no return. Drought, dwindling arable lands, and water resources began to trigger mass migration movements. Developed countries that saw this reality rolled up their sleeves and took the first big step. We all hear the echoes of the EU Green Deal and the Paris Climate Agreement and we are witnessing this great change. By 2050, a major reduction in global carbon emissions is targeted in this process. All business lines will get their share from this transformation.
As Dorce, we showed how much we care about this process as a company by participating in the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) with the Carbon Emission Reduction and Control Association (Turkey), held in Glasgow, Scotland, between October 31st and November 12th, 2021. This summit brought together all parties to accelerate actions towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This summit has shown that 2022 should be a year of action.
Climate-Related Migration and Refugee Crises
Environmental problems, global warming and climate changes bring “Climate Migration”. We can define climate migration as unplanned displacements that occur with the effects of climate changes and global warming. In 2018, the World Bank estimated that more than 143 million people in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia will have been displaced due to climate by 2050. The draft report “The Impact of Climate Change on Migration” was published by the White House in October 2021. In October, the “Ministry of Environment and Urbanization of Turkey” was renamed as “Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change”, the “General Directorate of Migration Management” affiliated to the Ministry of Interior was renamed as “Immigration Administration”. We think that these and similar changes will happen all over the world in the upcoming days.
In addition to climate migration, recent regional crises in the world continue trigger mass displacement movements. In this period, the supply of high-strength, cost-effective housing and facilities that can be dismantled and moved in a short time will be of the utmost importance for all states.
As Dorce, to be among the few companies that come to mind first in the field of emergency accommodation facilities is important for us. We are trying to meet all the vital needs of more than 100,000 people in the modular prefabricated integrated living spaces we have established in different regions of Turkey.
Reducing the Carbon Footprint Will Be One of the Most Important Issues of the Upcoming Years
The upcoming years will be a period in which all companies will control their carbon footprints and take precautions. Because they will be subjected to tax based on the products they export rather than on the production conditions. Those who do not adopt a sustainable and environmentalist attitude will be unable to compete in the market after the sanctions. As companies will be responsible not only for their own production, but also for suppliers and subcontractors, we anticipate that the process will progress rapidly.
The Equivalent of the Concept of Sustainability in the Construction Sector is Prefabricated Modular Steel Structures
Traditional construction methods began to change rapidly with the integration of new-generation, innovative and green materials into almost every sector within the scope of both industry 4.0 and the green deal,
The importance of recycling and sustainability is increasing exponentially. This fact corresponds to prefabricated modular steel structures in the construction industry. Steel is an important material because it is the only building material that can be recycled many times and does not lose its strength after use. Therefore, we can say that almost all of the materials used in the buildings we manufacture in our facility are recyclable.
The Carbon Footprint Certificate We Received is Just the Beginning
Leaving a more livable world to future generations is not a choice but a obligation. Our goal by 2050 is to be carbon neutral. We have established our roadmap in accordance with it. Dorce became the first company to receive the ISO 14064 in its sector: Greenhouse Gas Verification Certificate. This document is the first and important step on the road to great change. In addition, our work for the transition to completely renewable energy in our production facility continues at full speed.
We Have Grown Stronger Over The Challenging Year
Despite all the negative developments, we continued to provide added value to the countries where we have completed projects without compromising our environment and people-oriented approach. As Dorce, we completed more than 40 projects for 5 different sectors this year. We exported structures equivalent to 64 football fields in total to more than 10 countries.
In these structures that we have completed on a turnkey basis; Comfortable accommodation for 1000 families affected by natural disasters and more than 35,000 employees, treatment service in a modern hospital for 465 patients simultaneously, and education service for more than 1000 students have been provided. We achieved it with the determination and support of a total of 3,500 employees from 27 different nationalities, which corresponds to a total of 3.4 million man/hours.
We are ready for 2022
The construction industry in developed countries is evolving into industrial (prefabricated) steel structures, with the impact of the United Nations Global Compact, the European Union Green Deal targets and the technological developments experienced with Digitalization.
As Dorce, we carry on our activities at full speed, with our organizational structure adopting the United Nations Global Compact Principles and the European Union Green Deal targets. While evaluating the economic, social and environmental impacts of our plans, our first priority is to eliminate negative impacts and increase positive impacts as much as possible. We adopted the following to serve sustainable development;
- To reduce the environmental footprint,
- Zero waste policy,
- Fully recyclable production structure,
- Organizational structure that prioritizes people,
- Sensitivity towards social problems in all countries where have a presence,
- Added value to support social development.
As 40 years ago, today we are committed to serving sustainable development with an ethical, fair and transparent way of doing business with each of our employees and business partners and to implement management systems that enable us to realize.