Since 2015, the Healthy Homes Barometer has been tracking the state of European Union (EU) homes and shining a light on workplaces and educational institutions. The 2024 edition has been renamed as the Healthy Buildings Barometer (HBB) to reflect the fact it now extends to all major building types, giving us significant insights into all our buildings and their users’ health. The 2024 edition also includes a comprehensive framework for healthy buildings based on scientific research and illustrated through 12 case studies from across the EU. Policymakers at national and EU levels, as well as building sector stakeholders, can use this Healthy Buildings Barometer and its framework as a guide to achieving healthy and sustainable buildings across Europe.

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The CRREM initiative released a report on Green Governance and how to implement and develop feasible Net Zero Transition Plans in the real estate industry. The report was authored by the CRREM team and supported by EPRA and UNEP FI.

The report aims to support the industry in accomplishing full decarbonization until 2050 with a holistic and sector-specific framework. In addition to the white paper, CRREM has developed an Excel-based self-assessment guide to help boards identify initial areas for action to improve or develop net zero transition planning.

At the end of their service lives, building materials are either recovered (e.g., reused, recycled, incinerated) or disposed of in landfills. In life cycle assessment (LCA) terms, the environmental impacts due to material recovery or disposal are accounted for within the end-of-life (EOL) stage.

Through interviews, a survey, and a workshop, this research explores the functions that existing whole building LCA (WBLCA) tools offer to create models that can best represent EOL processes. This research further explores tool functionalities and data needs and provides recommendations and future research directions to improve EOL modeling in WBLCA tools.

This report discusses ways of enhancing government capacities to prevent, react and rebuild, thereby minimising the impact of natural disasters on infrastructure assets and operations. It identifies data, collaboration and technologies as drivers of resilience, and highlights financial resources, technical skills and regulatory frameworks as key enablers. The report presents seven actionable principles to ensure infrastructure resilience, drawing from global good practices and in-depth analysis of infrastructure projects in Colombia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mozambique and the United States.

Circle Economy launched the first Circularity Gap Report in 2018 because we recognised the need for improved metrics to lead impactful action. The Report, which will be launched annually, will continue to provide insights into the circular state of the world and additionally focus on specific aspects of circularity. From launching the first global metric in 2018, the industry focus in 2019, to the country perspective in 2020. The focus will be on the topics Circle Economy feel are vital to drive action or where momentum is building.

The main goal of the Global Circularity Gap Report is to provide key players that can implement the circular economy with the insights, data, knowledge and network to accelerate change.  

The Circularity Gap Report 2024 identifies the key enablers of policy, finance and labour to accelerate progress towards the circular economy.

The Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) is increasingly being recognised as the key platform for bringing together all stakeholders including national governments, industry leaders, policymakers, NGOs, academia, and advocates with a shared vision: A zero-emission, efficient, and resilient buildings and construction sector.

In 2023, the GlobalABC made considerable progress in reviewing its strategies and adding new essential strategic elements. Five key documents were produced to support the GlobalABC in delivering on its mandate and serving its members: Revised GlobalABC Strategic Framework; Communications Strategy; Member Engagement Strategy; Renewal and Reporting Framework; and Resource mobilisation strategy.

The 2023 narrative report reflects the continuing growth and evolution of the alliance and the key achievements that have defined the GlobalABC in the past year. 

This guidance is primarily aimed at public procurers involved in a range of contracting agreements related to building materials and products. This includes the purchase of building materials for construction works, but may also extend to material extraction, manufacturing, building, retrofit, refurbishment, design, interior fit out, and end-of-life demolition or deconstruction processes. 

There are a variety of roles within the procurement cycle that the guidance can support, from commissioning, category management, tender preparation and evaluation, to contract management.

Following the “build back better” principle, BPIE presents in this report six investment criteria to guide a sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine's heavily damaged built environment. The report calls on multilateral donors and the Ukrainian government to allocate funding to projects that meet ambitious energy efficiency, renewable energy, climate adaptation, and circularity criteria.

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The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction (Buildings-GSR), a report published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), provides an annual snapshot of the progress of the buildings and construction sector on a global scale. The Buildings-GSR reviews the status of policies, finance, technologies, and solutions to monitor whether the sector is aligned with the Paris Agreement goals. It also provides stakeholders with evidence to persuade policymakers and the overall buildings and construction community to take action.

As outlined in the latest edition, the buildings and construction sector contributes significantly to global climate change, accounting for about 21 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, buildings were responsible for 34 per cent global energy demand and 37 per cent of energy and process-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

The 2022 update of the Global Buildings Climate Tracker (GBCT) paints a concerning picture: the gap between the current state and the desired decarbonisation path is significant. To align with the 2030 milestone, an annual increase of ten decarbonisation points is now required, a substantial jump from the six points anticipated per year starting in 2015.

This year, the deep dive chapters are the following: Adaptation and resilient construction methods; Innovations in business cases as well as Nature-based solutions and biophilic design.

Learn more and download the 2023 Buildings-GSR

The report highlights the urgent global crisis of climate change, emphasizing its wide-ranging consequences on the environment, biodiversity, human health, and poverty. It particularly focuses on the vulnerability of the built environment to climate change impacts and stresses the need for immediate adaptation measures. Despite the clear benefits and urgent need for adaptation, there's a notable delay in embracing and implementing adaptation strategies across stakeholders within the buildings and construction sector, though the report demonstrates that each stakeholder already has tools and levers to contribute to the resilience of the built environment. The text then addresses various challenges hindering adaptation efforts, including reluctance to bear initial costs, a predominant focus on mitigation rather than adaptation, and the need for local-level initiatives and financial resources. It calls for collective action, emphasizing the shared responsibility of all stakeholders in addressing climate change adaptation and ensuring a sustainable future.

Download the full report and its executive summary below.