Climate

UN Secretary-General calls latest IPCC WG1 Climate Report a ‘Code Red for Humanity’, stressing ‘irrefutable’ evidence of human influence, and that “climate impacts will undoubtedly worsen”.

The built environment is a critical sector to tackle if we are to reach the climate mitigation targets set out in the Paris Agreement, as it represents close to 40% of global energy-related GHG emissions (almost 14 Gt per year) and 50% of global resource extraction.  

The Human Settlements are one of the Thematic Areas of the Climate Action Pathways, which are a vital part of the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action (MPGCA) tools to enhance climate action and ambition towards fully implementing the Paris Agreement. The Pathways aim to provide a roadmap to help Parties and non-Party stakeholders alike to identify actions needed by 2025, 2030 and 2040 as steps to get to the 2050 vision of a 1.5°C resilient world.

This practical guide demonstrates how buildings and community spaces can be constructed to increase their resilience to climate change, especially in developing countries where structures are largely self-built. The publication provides an overview of the fundamental types of interventions at the building scale, including the use of nature-based solutions. The guide offers construction solutions to adapt to a range of different risks in various climates.

Potential policy instruments that can accelerate a transition toward a circular economy in the Nordic construction sector, including demolition of buildings, are discussed and assessed. Sixteen interviews were carried out with actors representing stakeholders from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The d.Hub toolkit for circular buildings developed by Arup and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation includes a six-step circular design framework; strategies, actions and key performance indicators for circular construction on real estate projects; case studies; tools, as well as guidance on running circularity workshops. Users can also save and track projects on the d.Hub.

In this report, RMI provides a roadmap for how the US federal government can reduce embodied carbon emissions from public building projects over the next 30 years and outlines strategies for agencies to facilitate the broader movement to decarbonize the building industry and industrial supply chains. The core strategies underpinning the roadmap to zero embodied carbon by 2050 are:

The SIN List is a list of hazardous chemicals that are used in a wide variety of articles, products and manufacturing processes around the globe. The SIN abbreviation – Substitute It Now – implies that these chemicals should be removed as soon as possible as they pose a threat to human health and the environment.

Building construction materials represent 11% of global carbon emissions and 28% of the annual buildings related CO2 emissions, and yet, the demand for construction materials continues to grow, especially in the rapidly urbanizing Global South. Biomaterials offer a key opportunity for decarbonizing the buildings and construction sector, through transitioning from current linear, extractive, and toxic construction practices towards circular, bio-based, renewable materials and construction methods for a sustainable future.

Background: Climate change action is time critical. There is an immediate need to focus policy and market actions on emission reductions across the entire life cycle of buildings as these are very quickly using up the remaining carbon budget left before the tipping point of an irreversible climate crisis. This provides a compelling reason for policymakers to address all sources of carbon emissions from the buildings and construction sector, including both embodied and operational carbon – together referred to as “whole-life” carbon (WLC) emissions.