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.

Policy progress is evident with more comprehensive climate action plans covering buildings and construction in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). However, few align with net-zero operational emissions, and while over 81 countries have building energy codes, many are outdated.Investment in building decarbonisation exceeded US$285 billion in 2022 but is expected to decline in 2023, largely due to a less favourable investment environment due to rising costs. The necessary increase in investments falls short of the net-zero targets for new and existing buildings by 2030 and 2050, respectively.

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.

The GBCT shows a negative rebound since 2020 in the decarbonization of the buildings sector, with increased energy intensity and higher emissions. The gap between the actual climate performance of the sector and the necessary decarbonization pathway is widening. The lack of structural or systemic decarbonisation improvement in the building sector leaves its emissions reductions vulnerable to external factors.

To reach the goals of net-zero carbon emission buildings for new buildings by 2030 and existing buildings by 2050, stronger policies are needed to enhance energy efficiency and address carbon emissions from building materials and construction. National efforts are crucial, with countries forming coalitions to share best practices and promote low-carbon construction.

This year, the deep dive chapters are the following: Adaptation and resilient construction methods; Innovations in business cases (renovation and green building construction industry); and Nature-based solutions and biophilic design.

A welcome development in 2023 was the Buildings Breakthrough launched at COP28, to coordinate between countries to make clean technologies and sustainable solutions in the buildings and construction sector the most affordable, accessible, and attractive option in all regions by 2030.

Looking forward to 2024, the focus must be on tangible emission reductions, enhancing building performance, increasing renewable energy use and addressing housing and energy access disparities. Despite the complexities, strategic partnerships can facilitate the shift to an efficient, resilient and whole life net-zero carbon global building stock.

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The factsheet introduces the Implementation of the EU Taxonomy in the built environment and the link between NZEB and the EU Taxonomy The EU Taxonomy for the construction, acquisition and ownership of buildings requires the disclosure of a building’s primary energy demand (PED) as per the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) of 2010.

It was suggested that the European Commission and Member States should agree on a more harmonized definition of a major and deep renovation. The EU Commission should add embodied carbon assessments for the construction of a building, the demolition and rebuilding of a building, and the renovation/retrofitting of a building to allow comparability. Member States should provide further incentives for investors to choose energy renovation over construction.

The Cooling Web is a guidance document and a compilation of case studies that bring out a range of cooling solutions that are diverse and comprehensive and do not rely on conventional energy-guzzling practices. This involves measures to enhance microclimate, thoughtful designs for building envelopes, judicious selection of material, and context-specific cooling approaches.

India is witnessing rising frequency and intensity of heat waves. This is making our cities sear and pushing the built environment community to rethink how to plan and design buildings and cities. This momentum is strongly linked with the India Cooling Action Plan 2019 and its very important goal of thermal comfort for all. The Union government and a few state governments are taking strides to achieve this goal by developing thermal comfort standards and action plans, adopting energy conservation building codes, and other initiatives like cool roof programmes. However, the degree of success lies in the scaled-up implementation of cooling strategies.

The 10 case studies in the volume 1 carefully selected from across the country—with five deep dives—highlight how thermal comfort can be achieved by a combination of passive and active cooling measures. This approach reduces cooling energy demand tremendously and addresses cooling equity. These solutions blend traditional wisdom on passive design with modern techniques and provide optimized solutions so that energy consumption is minimized. These solutions are also a guide toward achieving a rational and climate-appropriate cooling ecosystem that not only ensures resource efficiency but also maintains thermal comfort for building occupants.

The Building Energy Codes Working Group has released their latest report on Resilience Issues in Building Energy Codes, led by the Australian Government.

The report, authored by Adam Hinge, MD of Sustainable Energy Partnerships and prepared for the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Building Energy Codes Working Group (BECWG), which is part of the IEA Energy in Buildings and Communities Technical Collaboration Programme (IEA EBC), focuses on the application of building energy codes to improve the building stock’s ability to provide safe indoor thermal conditions and function during extreme events. It reviews the relationship of building energy codes to other building resilience policies and strategies, such as other building/life safety codes, community planning, zoning or other land use regulation to discourage rebuilding in areas most prone to climate disasters, and other resilience planning strategies. The report provides an overview of how different jurisdictions address resilience issues through building energy codes in countries that are part of the IEA EBC Building Energy Codes Working Group.

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) published the fifth edition of its annual Advancing Net Zero (ANZ) Status Report.

The report showcases breakthrough action from across the GBC network, including the 35 GBCs participating in WorldGBC’s global Advancing Net Zero programme, 175 signatories to the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (the Commitment), the wider GBCs network, partners and more. In addition, the report also highlights collaborative efforts from the market that support WorldGBC’s mission to achieve 100% net zero carbon buildings by 2050.

A new generation of energy system is emerging. Our supply-side focused systems, dependent on centralised power plants, now increasingly include a myriad of distributed, smaller-scale solutions with consumers taking more active roles. This new way of seeing energy system can help meet our climate and social targets, if managed well. However, barriers remain in our financial, legislative, and political systems. Collaborative action from advocates of the new systems can provide the breakthrough we need.

Although access to electricity and the use of clean fuels for cooking, heating and lighting is widespread in the UNECE region – and deployment of renewable energy had been increasing and energy efficiency had also been improving – the rate of progress has not been high enough to make the energy targets of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (affordable and clean energy) achievable. An acceleration of effort is therefore critical to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

This report highlights the gap between actual progress and what is required to achieve SDG7 targets. Closing the gap requires integrated thinking by energy system actors, coupled with enabling policy frameworks and good governance. It also requires increased cooperation and financing 

The report is part of a series of policy briefs compiled by the multi-stakeholder SDG7 Technical Advisory Group (SDG7 TAG) in support of the review of SDG7 at the High-level Political Forum (HLPF) 2023.

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.

European buildings represent 40% of final energy consumption and 36% of GHG emissions related to energy, making them a priority axis for decarbonisation. For the EU, it is urgent to reduce buildings’ energy consumption, especially since 75% of existing buildings are reportedly energy inefficient (i.e. EPC band C or lower according to the SFDR) and require energy renovation work. To act on these issues, one of the main regulatory levers available to the EU is the Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD). This directive requires EU countries to ensure that by the end of 2020, all newbuilds are nearly zero energy buildings (NZEB). This EU standard relies on two main pillars: a strong energy performance and the local production of renewable energy.

The 2023 edition of Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report provides the most comprehensive look available at the world’s progress towards global energy targets on access to electricity, clean cooking, renewable energy and energy efficiency, giving the international community the latest global dashboard to register progress on the SDG7 targets at the halfway mark towards the 2030 deadline. It is prepared by the SDG7 Indicator Custodian Agencies: the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the UN Statistics Division (UNSD) at UN DESA, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO). The report will be presented to high-level decision makers together with the SDG7 Policy Briefs at a special launch event on 11 July at the UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development in New York, which will include a global review of SDG7.