The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction (Buildings-GSR), a report published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), provides an annual snapshot of the progress of the buildings and construction sector on a global scale. The Buildings-GSR reviews the status of policies, finance, technologies, and solutions to monitor whether the sector is aligned with the Paris Agreement goals. It also provides stakeholders with evidence to persuade policymakers and the overall buildings and construction community to take action.

As outlined in the latest edition, the buildings and construction sector contributes significantly to global climate change, accounting for about 21 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, buildings were responsible for 34 per cent global energy demand and 37 per cent of energy and process-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The 2022 update of the Global Buildings Climate Tracker (GBCT) paints a concerning picture: the gap between the current state and the desired decarbonisation path is significant. To align with the 2030 milestone, an annual increase of ten decarbonisation points is now required, a substantial jump from the six points anticipated per year starting in 2015.

This year, the deep dive chapters are the following: Adaptation and resilient construction methods; Innovations in business cases as well as Nature-based solutions and biophilic design.

Learn more and download the 2023 Buildings-GSR

Built by Nature strategic partners Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance have collaborated with One Click LCA to provide relevant and practical on-line training as a comprehensive introduction to life cycle assessment, embodied carbon, biobased materials and circularity in construction.

This is a free and open resource designed for City Officers, and is an important component of the project "Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon in Europe's Built Environment", funded by Laudes Foundation and Built by Nature. One Click LCA is the first and best easy and automated life cycle assessment software that helps you calculate and reduce the environmental impacts of your building & infra projects, products and portfolio. Our software helps designers, builders, manufacturers and investors to identify the most effective ways to decarbonise their construction projects, products and portfolios. It is used in more than 100 countries, includes the world’s largest construction sector database, integrates with over a dozen design tools and supports over 50 standards and certifications.

This programme will delve into the key topics, findings, and actionable suggestions that will empower city practitioners to drive carbon reduction initiatives. Enroll now to access videos, learning sessions, and receive a certificate of completion -- with coursework and materials available in English, French and Spanish. 

Please visit the academy webisite here.

This issue of Danfoss's white papers presents a roadmap for decarbonizing cities. Cities account for two-thirds of global energy consumption and more than 70% of annual global carbon emissions. With more than half of the world’s population living in cities today – a number expected to increase to almost 70% in 2050 – we will not reach the goals of the Paris Agreement without a deep decarbonization of cities.

Read the key messages here.

About 90% of homes in the Netherlands depending on natural gas for heating, the Netherlands has made a commitment to phase out natural gas by 2050. To achieve the goal, the Netherlands has rolled out a natural gas-free pilot programme in 66 neighbourhoods. These neighbourhood pilot projects enabled municipalities to learn what it takes to start energy transition.

Based on a city survey carried out across 26 local governments, key findings from this report call on national and local governments joining up their efforts to take place-based measures.

This paper is the first case study applying the policy framework presented in the OECD report Decarbonising Buildings in Cities and Regions published in March 2022. The present case study provides a deep dive into the Netherlands’ experience to demonstrate the potential of cities and regions to advance the decarbonisation of buildings.

Read the paper here.

This briefing by the European Environment Agency explores the nexus between climate change adaptation and mitigation, and the health and social justice aspects of cooling Europe’s buildings. It focuses specifically on residential buildings. The briefing is based on a literature review by Ramboll commissioned by the EEA, discussions held with members of the European Environment Information and Observation Network (Eionet), input from individual experts and information from other EEA publications.

Read the briefing here

The CARE (Carbon Avoided: Retrofit Estimator) Tool is used for estimating and comparing the embodied, operating, and avoided carbon impacts and benefits of reusing and upgrading existing buildings or replacing them with new construction. The CARE Tool allows users to compare the total carbon impacts of renovating an existing building vs. replacing it with a new one.

The CARE Tool is an Architecture 2030 Project. 

This report - Sri Lanka Roadmap for Sustainable Housing and Construction 2020 – 2050 - presents the findings of the Sustainable Building Construction Country Assessment for Sri Lanka (SBC-CA) and a Roadmap for Sustainable Housing and Construction and achieving NDCs in the construction industry in Sri Lanka. It examines the current status, and potential opportunities and challenges for adopting Sustainable Building Construction (SBC) practices and policies. The Country Assessment and the Roadmap are structured on the approach laid out by the ‘Global Alliance for Building Construction (GlobalABC) Roadmap for Buildings and Construction 2020-2050, where 8 Action Areas have been identified for the transition towards sustainability in the Construction Sector: Urban planning, New Buildings, Existing Buildings, Building Operations, Appliances and Systems, Materials, Resilience, and Clean Energy.

Download the roadmap here.

The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction (Buildings-GSR) is a flagship publication of the UNEP-hosted Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC). The Buildings-GSR provides an annual snapshot of the progress of the buildings and construction sector on a global scale and reviews the status of policies, finance, technologies, and solutions to monitor whether the sector is aligned with the Paris Agreement goals. It also provides stakeholders with evidence to persuade policymakers and the overall buildings and construction community to take action.

What is new in the 2022 Buildings-GSR? 

• Buildings and construction: disruptions and challenges facing the buildings sector in 2022 
• Global Building Carbon Tracker: Are we on track towards the Paris Agreement Goals?
• Updates on building codes and building decarbonisation in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
• Status of investment in building energy efficiency
• Deep dive on:
  • Africa (regional focus)
  • Building materials (topical focus)

The 2022 Buildings-GSR finds that 

• Despite a substantial increase in investment and success at a global level lowering the energy intensity of buildings, the sector’s total energy consumption and CO2 emissions increased in 2021 above pre-pandemic levels. Buildings energy demand increased by around 4% from 2020 to 135 EJ – the largest increase in the last 10 years. CO2 emissions from buildings operations have reached an all-time high of around 10 GtCO2, around a 5% increase from 2020 and 2% higher than the previous peak in 2019. 
• The buildings and construction sector is not on track to achieve decarbonization by 2050. And the gap between the actual climate performance of the sector and the decarbonization pathway is widening.
• Global energy price volatility and rising interest rates are likely to hamper investment in building decarbonization by governments, households, and businesses. 

Download our 2022 Buildings-GSR and read more!

Watch our video "Is the Buildings and Construction Sector on Track to decarbonize? 2022 Buildings-GSR." 

Effective energy efficiency policy is more important than ever for mitigating carbon emissions and improving energy access globally. Policymakers and researchers can take advantage of Mepsy, CLASP’s free policy analysis tool, to make data-driven decisions about managing the top energy-consuming appliances, now including lighting and considerations for varying compliance levels. This webinar, held on 16 March 2022, informed participants of two major additions to Mepsy’s toolkit: lighting and compliance. In addition, CLASP demonstrated how to use Mepsy to perform custom analyses and multiple tier policy analyses, in response to high demand for the feature. To see all related materials, including a recording of the webinar, visit https://www.clasp.ngo/research/all/2022-mepsy-webinar-materials/

This volume on the building and construction sector provides an overview of the different sources of GHG emissions from the building and construction sector, as well as methodologies for quantifying these emissions to feed into the preparation and reporting of national GHG inventories. By better understanding the sources of emissions over the whole life cycle of buildings, it thus provides guidance on the most appropriate and effective mitigation strategies and policies for decarbonizing the building and construction sector based on national circumstances. We are optimistic that the guidance contained in this volume will be of some help to developing country Parties to make informed choices when setting building and construction sector emission reduction targets; implementing climate change mitigation actions and reporting on them in their national communications,biennial update reports and in future, biennial transparency reports.