My thanks to Minister Christophe Béchu, Minister for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion, and to the government of France for showing strong leadership on decarbonizing the buildings and construction sector. UNEP greatly appreciates France’s partnership in the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction and the Buildings Breakthrough, launched at COP28. This first Buildings and Climate Global Forum is an important next step in this agenda.
We need to provide a built environment that works for everyone to deliver on the sustainable development goals. But it cannot come at the expense of further climate disruption. The first global Stocktake found that the world is off track on the targets of the Paris Agreement. UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report found that we need to shave 28 per cent off emissions by 2030 for 2°C, and 42 per cent for 1.5°C. Slow progress in decarbonizing the buildings and construction sector is part of the reason we are so far behind. Some 21 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions are linked to the sector.
We must act. And we have a chance to act. Half of the buildings that will exist by 2050 are not built. Another 20 per cent of building stock needs to be renovated by 2030 to make it zero-carbon ready.
There are many elements to the transition. My colleagues from UN Habitat, the International Energy Agency, and the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction are today covering aspects such as adequate housing, energy decarbonization and efficiency, and climate resilience. I will focus on the need for a life-cycle approach to reduce embodied carbon from building materials. There is a good reason for this focus. In fast-developing economies, construction materials will dominate resource consumption. Associated emissions are expected to double by 2060. However, we can adopt three key strategies to avoid these emissions.
One, introduce circularity into the economy, thus aiming to reduce, or in some cases even avoid, extraction and production of new raw materials.
This means better design and reuse and recycling of materials. It also means renovations of old buildings, which create 75 per cent less emissions than new construction. These elements will obviously require strong policy support.
Two, shift to ethically produced bio-based building materials.
Using materials like timber, bamboo and biomass could shave 40 per cent off 2050 emissions in some places. So, it makes sense to increase the market share of such low-carbon materials and increase finance in R&D.
Three, improve building materials and processes.
Embodied emissions from cement, iron and steel are significant, but they can be reduced or eliminated by changing formulas and processes. Green procurement protocols and policies could help incentivize industry to make these changes.
Friends,
Deploying these strategies would make a huge difference. Not just to climate change. Some 17 per cent of all plastics are used in buildings and construction. Those who work in these buildings inhale plastic dust from carpets, false ceilings and other plastic materials. So, finding safe alternatives as well as efficiencies could, if done right, contribute to both increasing worker’s health and a reduction in CO2 emissions, as well as support the long-term success of the instrument to end plastic pollution currently under negotiation. And, of course, support other international agreements, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
As we start a cycle of submitting new Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement, countries have a chance to integrate these strategies into their plans. But international cooperation and multilevel governance will be crucial to accelerate action. I am pleased that boosting such cooperation is the aim of this Forum, which includes a Local Governments Roundtable. Those discussions will build on the outcomes of the Cities and Regions Summit, which took place on the side lines of the sixth session of the UN Environment Assembly, held last week in Nairobi.
My thanks again to France for its great leadership on buildings and construction. Transiting to low-carbon, climate resilient buildings will create jobs, improve lives and help to slow the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and land loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste. This Forum is, therefore, doing incredibly important work.
I look forward to hearing how you can increase international cooperation and multilevel governance for a decarbonized buildings and construction sector.
