The tumultuous year of 2020 finished in chaos, and 2021 started with nobody able to predict what would happen. This is the beginning of a new period, with humanity facing challenges that it has never seen before. Like it or not, we have been plunged into a virtual world. Groping our way forward, we have discovered that committee sessions, meetings and symposiums can be made to work online. At the same time, we have been hearing reports that the sudden pause to economic activities around the world has cut anthropogenic carbon emissions by 7%, and that once‐polluted rivers and seas are clean again.

We know that the COVID‐19 pandemic will fundamentally change the world, but the lessons of humanity's recovery from the previous epidemic over a hundred years ago seem to have little relevance for today's more complex society. During 2020, the World Economic Forum announced “The Great Reset” as the theme for its annual meeting in January 2021. Also in 2020, both the EU and Japan declared targets of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. At the time of writing, there are already seventy‐seven countries participating in this movement, and the USA seems likely to join soon. Moreover, under the COVID‐19 pandemic, calls for global action on climate change are beginning to accelerate, taking the movement to another level.

Concrete structures are linked to large amounts of carbon emission during the manufacture of materials and during their construction and operation. For a long period, this was considered unavoidable, with concrete seen as an indispensable material necessary to human prosperity. The situation has now changed, and concrete technologists, engineers and researchers can no longer afford to be complacent about the inevitability of today's materials. Instead, we are expected to contribute our expertise to the efforts to achieve the ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050. Before long, the world may be prioritising concrete structures that minimise carbon emissions over minimising cost. When that happens, the public may demand figures for the carbon emissions of individual projects from the owners of concrete structures as well as from the engineers involved in project design and construction. We have to ask ourselves what sort of support the fib can give to members when this sort of future becomes a reality. To address that question, I suggest that we think about two keywords that are very relevant to this task.

The first keyword is “sustainability”. The fib members include researchers and engineers involved in the design, construction and management of structures, and together they are concerned with all aspects of a concrete structure throughout its lifetime, including materials, design, construction, conservation, intervention, demolition, reuse and recycling. The fib is an organization that brings together the state‐of‐the‐art technologies in these areas. The Model Code 2020 will be a compilation of our expertise and the culmination of a decade of efforts. Its publication is the fib's most significant mission for 2021. Sustainability was first explicitly taken into account in our Model Code 2010, but in the latest revision, it has become one of the foundations of the code. The optimal solution for the three pillars of sustainability – the social aspect, economic aspect and environmental aspect – leads to a reduction in carbon emissions. Pursuing sustainability through concrete structures in this way results in accommodation to future world trends. Members of the fib have a variety of different perspectives and roles in the industry or research and education, but we all need to be more specific regarding how to think about sustainability in the construction of concrete structures. At the same time, we should continue to think globally and build locally. “Think Globally, Build Locally” was the motto of the Washington congress in 2010. To achieve carbon reductions in construction, we have to consider the whole process, taking both upstream and downstream factors into account. When procuring construction materials, we need to think about the global environment and source our materials locally to the greatest extent possible. And fib committee activities need to put their efforts into the integration of low‐carbon technologies.

The second keyword is “intergenerational collaboration”. In 2050, the key roles in our industry will be played mainly by people who are currently in their twenties or thirties. But what we do in the first ten years will be crucial to successfully meeting the 2050 target. We need to discuss the issues thoroughly and decide on the appropriate direction in which the fib should be steered, taking into account the wisdom of all the generations now active in our organisation, and the reality of thirty years into the future. The fib Young Members Group has an important role to play in this process. I strongly encourage young members to actively participate in committees and make their own views known, and I am convinced that doing so will help them to secure their own future.

To adapt to the transformations that our world is undergoing, we must take action. And that action has to be taken as soon as possible. We need to share the expertise and wisdom of all the forty‐one national member groups worldwide to find ways of using structural concrete that enable us all to adapt to the climate change we are exposed to.

Recently we heard that natural disasters around the world are being intensified by climate change. Global society faces many issues, but COVID‐19 has now made action on climate change an even more important priority. There is no longer any doubt. Resetting the world is not going to be easy, but nobody knows more about concrete than the fib. By putting our brains together, we can find a solution and continue contributing to the prosperity of humanity.

2020年充满动荡的一年陷入混乱，而2021年开始时没有人能够预测会发生什么。这是一个新时期的开始，人类面临着前所未有的挑战。不管您喜欢与否，我们都陷入了虚拟世界。摸索前进的道路，我们发现可以召开委员会会议，会议和专题讨论会以在线进行工作。同时，我们一直在听到有关世界经济活动突然停顿的报告，将人为碳排放量减少了7％，曾经被污染的河流和海洋再次变得干净。

我们知道，COVID-19大流行将从根本上改变世界，但是人类从一百多年前的上一次流行病中复苏的教训似乎与当今更加复杂的社会没有多大关系。在2020年期间，世界经济论坛宣布“大重置”为其2021年1月年会的主题。也是在2020年，欧盟和日本都宣布了到2050年实现碳中和的目标。已经有77个国家参加了这一运动，美国似乎很可能很快加入。此外，在COVID-19大流行中，针对全球气候变化采取行动的呼吁开始加快，从而使运动进一步发展。

混凝土结构在材料制造期间以及在其构造和运行过程中与大量碳排放有关。长期以来，人们认为这是不可避免的，混凝土被视为人类繁荣必不可少的材料。现在情况已经改变，具体的技术人员，工程师和研究人员再也不能对当今材料的必然性感到沾沾自喜。取而代之的是，我们有望为实现到2050年实现碳中和的宏伟目标做出贡献。不久之后，世界可能会优先考虑将碳排放量最小化而不是成本最小化的混凝土结构。那样的话 公众可能会要求混凝土结构所有者以及参与项目设计和施工的工程师提供各个项目的碳排放量数据。我们必须问自己，什么样的支持当这种未来成为现实时，fib可以给予会员。为了解决这个问题，我建议我们考虑两个与该任务非常相关的关键字。

第一个关键字是“可持续性”。该FIB成员包括参与设计，结构和管理研究人员和工程师，和他们一起关心其整个生命周期混凝土结构的各个方面，包括材料，设计，施工，养护，干预，拆卸，再利用和再循环。该FIB是导致这些地区的国家的最先进的技术结合在一起的组织。2020年标准法规将是我们专业知识的汇集，是十年努力的结晶。它的出版物是fib这是2021年最重要的任务。在我们的标准代码2010中，可持续性首先得到明确考虑，但在最新版本中，它已成为该代码的基础之一。针对可持续性三大支柱（社会方面，经济方面和环境方面）的最佳解决方案可减少碳排放量。以这种方式通过混凝土结构追求可持续性可以适应未来的世界趋势。FIB成员在行业或研究与教育领域具有各种不同的观点和角色，但是我们所有人都需要在如何考虑混凝土结构的可持续性方面更加具体。同时，我们应该继续全球化思考并在本地建设。“全球化思考，本地化建设”是2010年华盛顿国会的座右铭。要实现建筑业碳减排，我们必须考虑到整个过程，同时兼顾上游和下游因素。在采购建筑材料时，我们需要考虑全球环境，并在最大程度上在本地采购我们的材料。和FIB委员会的活动需要把他们的努力为低碳技术的集成。

第二个关键字是“代际合作”。在2050年，我们行业的关键角色将主要由二十岁或三十岁的人们扮演。但是，我们在头十年中要做的事情对于成功实现2050年目标至关重要。我们需要充分讨论这些问题，并根据当前活跃于我们组织中的各代人的智慧以及未来三十年的现实情况，决定操纵小童车的正确方向。该FIB团员青年集团在这一进程中发挥了重要的作用。我强烈鼓励年轻成员积极参加委员会并发表自己的看法，我坚信这样做将有助于他们确保自己的未来。

为了适应我们世界正在经历的变革，我们必须采取行动。而且该行动必须尽快采取。我们需要分享全球所有41个国家成员团体的专业知识和智慧，以找到使用结构混凝土的方法，从而使我们所有人都能适应我们所面临的气候变化。

最近，我们听说气候变化加剧了世界各地的自然灾害。全球社会面临许多问题，但COVID-19现在已将应对气候变化的行动列为更加重要的优先事项。不再有任何疑问。重置世界并非易事，但没有人比fib更了解混凝土。通过集思广益，我们可以找到解决方案，并继续为人类的繁荣作出贡献。