As we reflect on our role as builders in addressing the challenges ahead of us, it’s no secret that the built environment has contributed significantly to climate change.
These impacts from the past represent an opportunity to change the way we build today so that the buildings and cities of the future significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve resilience to the effects of climate change.
Building construction and the production of building materials is responsible for 11% of global GHG emissions. As an industry, we can reduce this number by using building materials with low embodied GHGs and by zoning our cities so that the buildings we construct today remain relevant for centuries, thus maximizing the amortization period of those emissions.