Construction Industry: major contributor towards Energy consumption and carbon emission

Recently “2021 global status report for building and construction” has been published under the UN environment programme. Most important information of the report is that construction sector is responsible for 37% of global Carbon emissions and 36% of global energy consumption. As per the report major reason behind this trend is the lack of real transformation in the sector and this in turn contributing to dangerous climate change. Since the signing of the Paris agreement in 2015, CO2 emissions from the buildings and construction sector have increased and subsequently fallen in 2020. This current decline is due mostly to the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas transformative, long-term progress in sector decarbonizing remains limited. In 2015, the construction and operation of buildings was responsible for 38 per cent (13.1 gigatons) of global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. By 2020, CO 2 emissions in the sector had fallen an estimated 10 per cent to 11.7 gigatons, a level not seen since 2007. Still sector’s energy consumption and carbon emission global share did not change, and trend is looking threatening due to upcoming demands. These numbers 36% and 37% comes from both construction and operation of the buildings (resident + Commercials). So, there are various factors contributing to energy consumption and carbon emission apart from construction materials. So, from the figure we can see 27% carbon emission comes from building operations and 10% from construction activities. While in energy demand part operation stands at 30% and construction activity at 6%.

While there is some progress in energy investment and power decarbonization, a negative rebound in overall progress should be expected unless building sector decarbonization efforts significantly increase. The only way to put a hold on this trend is to implement sustainable construction and operation practices.

Fig: Energy consumption and carbon emission Global share

Reference: – https://globalabc.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/GABC_Buildings-GSR-2021_BOOK.pdf