FCB Brazil is working with construction companies in the country on an ESG platform called Noise Neutral, which they position as a platform designed to foster discussions about solutions to compensate for noise pollution. 

The parties involved liken the effort to “carbon offsetting” programs that many companies put forth to showcase their green credentials, although many such programs have been widely condemned as forms of greenwashing with little if any beneficial effect. 

A rep for the project cites the World Health Organization’s assertion that noise pollution is the number two cause of diseases worldwide, second only to air pollution. 

Yeah, tell me about it. Awhile back there was a years-long construction project across the street from where I live in NYC. It included more than a year’s worth of daily pounding through bedrock several levels below street level. Nearly drove me bonkers. 

Juan Pierrard, acoustic engineer and managing partner at Bracústica, one of the companies that helped to develop the platform, says, “simply bringing this debate out to society is already a huge step. Noise pollution has always been a neglected problem, and it’s high time it got the attention it deserves,” he says. 

The platform has a calculator that can be used to point out a construction site on a map and input an estimated total area for the site and how long the construction will last. 

There’s also a collaborative space for architecture and urban planning firms, designers, and acoustic experts to share their ideas about “compensation” projects, connecting them with interested construction companies and real estate developers who want to reduce the noise impact from their construction sites.  

Well, I guess that's a starting point. Not much there yet. But who knows,  maybe this platform will spawn so many wonderful noise-pollution-reducing solutions that WHO won’t even have it on its list of problems in a century or so. You just never know where or what a conversation will lead to.