The Paris Agreement stipulates that all new buildings need to be net-zero and reduce embodied carbon by 40-50% by 2030. Furthermore, all new and existing assets need to be net-zero by 2050. Of all countries’ NDCs, over 80% include buildings in their action plans, the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) reported. However, by 2023 only 11 countries had revised and increased the ambition of their NDCs with stronger, more detailed commitments to building efficiency, leaving the buildings and construction sector off-track for reducing its CO2 emissions. At the same time, developing countries anticipate tremendous and urgent challenges to meet the growing demand for living and working spaces with access to modern and efficient energy services.
This multifaceted challenge requires countries to move past isolated interventions and apply integrated approach, with interventions that may include planning for green and passive design buildings as well as increased electrical infrastructure for renewable energy and behavioral changes, which all together would enable people to live and work sustainably, contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but also increasing human well-being and climate resilience.
UNEP is a founding member of the GlobalABC, for which it serves as a Secretariat. Together with the GlobalABC, UNEP has long-standing experience working on buildings and construction. The GEF Mitigation Unit is ready to provide developing countries with access to state-of-the-art reports and knowledge tools, expert support and thought leadership. The Unit shares tailored methodologies and knowledge on how to tackle built environment challenges in individual country contexts, understanding local market and stakeholder needs and dynamics to create sustainable, scalable and replicable interventions that bring about long-lasting changes with high mitigation potential, while achieving multiple Global Environmental Benefits aligned with GEF policies and requirements.
