Database

This report shows how the building industry can bring up-front materials emissions down to zero. It explores our current understanding of cradle-to-gate (CtG) embodied carbon emissions, otherwise known as up-front emissions from materials captured in lifecycle phases A1-A3, in new home construction and the building industry’s ability to mitigate these emissions down to zero (or even to become net carbon storing). We demonstrate how this can be done without any negative repercussions for continuing efforts to bring operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to zero, providing the market with clear directions for fast, practical, and cost-effective change.

Download the report

Construction is the second largest industrial ecosystem in the European Union in economic terms, employing around 25 million people. Planning the future of construction is not only about setting new actions and commitments, but also about aligning efforts and identifying and closing critical gaps. Many targets exist on how the built environment should transform in the future, but far fewer indicators exist on how the construction ecosystem should evolve to deliver on these objectives. 

This transition pathway describes the conditions and the necessary actions to achieve a resilient, competitive, greener, and more digital construction ecosystem. In addition, it proposes actions that support the transition towards safer buildings and affordable housing for all Europeans.

In the report's Annex II. National and Industry Commitments, the GlobalABC Global Roadmap for Buildings and Construction was mentioned:

The Global Roadmap for Buildings and Construction   sets out targets and timelines towards achieving zero-emission, efficient and resilient buildings, and construction between 2020 and 2050. The roadmap covers 8 themes, including urban planning, new buildings, existing buildings, building operations, appliances and systems, materials, resilience, and clean energy. For each of these themes, priority actions related to policy and technology are identified. This roadmap was developed in collaboration with the GlobalABC and UN Environment Programme.

Energy demand for space cooling has increased more than twice as fast as the overall energy demand in buildings over the last decade. Higher temperatures caused by climate change, coupled with increasing incomes and growing populations, are driving rapid growth in residential air conditioning (AC) ownership. However, the rapid growth of AC is putting stress on the power grid, whilst exacerbating the adverse impact of space cooling on GHG emissions, local air pollution, power outages, urban heat island effects, energy poverty, and physiological acclimatisation.

This analysis examines available technical and policy response measures that are a win-win: they can ensure that lower income households are not left behind, and that growth in space cooling does not cause harm to the climate and health.

Download the report here

A new paper, ‘Ahead of the Wave’, released by World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) on 2 March 2023, calls on the European financial and real estate sectors to take action as key players in the transformation wave to a sustainable built environment.

The finance sector is well-positioned to boost the transition to a sustainable built environment and take advantage of its leverage. Financial actors’ investment, lending, and insurance underwriting decisions shape tomorrow’s real economy. Investment decisions taken today will have repercussions for the built environment in years to come, so sustainability needs to be firmly at the top of the agenda.

Download the paper here.

In this publication - State of Finance for Nature in Cities 2023: Time to Assess - Summary for Local Policymakers, developed as an addendum to the 2022 SFN report, UNEP and the Penn Institute for Urban Research seek to take stock of urban NbS investments, outline gaps and opportunities for NbS financing in cities, and map out best practices from cities around the world.

The SFN in Cities also illustrates actions that local governments, financial stakeholders, private sector, and knowledge partners can take to scale up investments for nature in cities.

Download it here

A new report commissioned by IIGCC highlights how investors are considering buildings emissions using a ‘whole life carbon’ approach, drawing on research and case studies from experts and industry leaders.

In a world where embodied carbon is invisible, investors can make investment and sustainability decisions that may be unwittingly harming the environment. This is why leading members of IIGCC’s Real Estate Working Group are moving on the topic: “wait and see” is no longer an option. This report documents IIGCC’s series of roundtables hosted in 2022, providing “best practices” and examples from the series, where experts and leading investors explained how they are incorporating embodied carbon into their measurements and target setting.

Download the report here.