Building Materials and the Climate: Constructing a New Future
This report explores the critical role of building materials in contributing to climate change and outlines pathways to decarbonize the sector. It emphasizes a life-cycle approach, where embodied and operational carbon emissions are addressed across material choices, construction, use, and end-of-life processes. Key strategies include shifting towards biobased materials, improving the efficiency of conventional materials like cement, steel, and aluminium, and enhancing circular economy principles through reuse, recycling, and reducing material extraction.
Key Takeaways
- Avoid, Shift, Improve: Decarbonization requires avoiding unnecessary material extraction, shifting to renewable biobased materials, and improving the carbon footprint of conventional materials.
- Biobased Materials: Sustainable timber, bamboo, and agricultural by-products offer carbon reduction opportunities, but they require responsible management to prevent ecological harm.
- Circular Economy: A circular approach to construction can reduce waste, encourage the reuse of materials, and minimize the embodied carbon in buildings by repurposing existing structures.
How It Can Help You
This report is valuable for architects, policymakers, and developers who are:
- Seeking strategies to reduce embodied carbon in construction.
- Interested in transitioning to biobased and circular building practices.
- Looking for policy recommendations to decarbonize building materials across the entire life cycle.
Key Learnings
- Life-Cycle Approach: A comprehensive life-cycle assessment of materials, from extraction to disposal, is critical to reducing emissions.
- Biobased Potential: Biobased materials, like timber, hold significant decarbonization potential but need to be integrated carefully with ecosystem management.
- Circular Design: Designing buildings for disassembly and reuse is key to minimizing waste and embodied emissions in construction.
Date: 2023
