UN: construction sector produces 37 per cent of global emissions

 

 

 

 

 

The construction sector is by far the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. It accounts for a staggering 37 per cent of global emissions. The production and continued use of materials such as cement, steel and aluminium have a significant impact on carbon dioxide emissions. 

 

Historically, much of the attention and work in this area have focused on reducing buildings' “active carbon” emissions, i.e., emissions that result from heating, cooling and lighting. Preliminary projections suggest that operational emissions should fall from 75 per cent to 50 per cent of the sector's total emissions in the coming decades. However, solutions to reduce “bound carbon” emissions – which arise from the production or introduction of cement, steel and aluminium – are lagging far behind. 

 

To address this problem effectively, all stakeholders must come together, co-operating internationally throughout the life cycle of the construction sector, both informally and formally. 

 

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Yale Centre for Ecosystems and Architecture, as part of the work of the Global Alliance for a Green Construction Industry (GlobalABC), have produced a report, Building Materials and Climate: Building a New Future. It highlights the urgent need for innovative and collaborative models for decarbonising building materials. Models will be critical if we are to achieve the global ambition of zero emissions from the construction sector by mid-century. 

 

The report also identifies three overarching strategies that will help in the greening of building materials: 

 

1. Avoid the production and extraction of raw materials that you can do without; 

2. Switch to renewable materials; 

3. Improve decarbonisation of familiar materials (reduce carbon emissions by using low carbon energy sources). 

 

Only the joint implementation of all of the above strategies will help pave the way for a greener and more sustainable construction industry within the world's global climate goals. 

 

Greening of the construction sector is also taking place in Moscow. Thus, the direction of “green” construction will be included in the Strategy for the development of the construction industry in Moscow until 2030, according to the press service of DOM.RF. 

 

“Today, the sphere of housing construction is reaching a qualitatively new level. Environmental approaches and best practices of “green” construction are already being actively applied by developers, and we see a special interest in this direction in the capital. According to DOM.RF data, more than 680 apartment buildings being built in Moscow already meet certain “green” attributes,” said Marina Slutskaya, Director for Sustainable Development of DOM.RF.

 

 

Unsplash / Anaya Katlego / Bernard Dittrich