Some Finnish buildings could cut their carbon footprints by as much as 43% – according to research conducted by One Click LCA for the Finnish government – and almost all could make a saving of 28% using easily available decarbonisation strategies.

Research conducted by One Click LCA on behalf of the Ministry of the Environment, Finland, involved the collection and analysis of 482 actual Finnish project construction materials carbon footprints. Most of these projects were residential, school or office buildings. A further 3748 energy certificates for new buildings built since 2018 were analysed to establish average energy consumption per targeted building type. This provided a solid statistical basis for the average construction materials and energy carbon footprints for buildings.

Findings from the research can be used to set realistic decarbonisation targets for buildings.