Emissions from built sub-sector dip for the first time since 2020

A growing number of countries are working to decarbonise buildings even as sluggish progress and financing gaps put global climate goals at risk.

These are the key findings of an annual review of the buildings and construction sector, published by the UN Environment Programme (Unep) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC).

The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2024-2025 highlights the progress made on related global climate goals. It also calls for greater ambition on six challenges, including building energy codes, renewable energy, and financing.

Global frameworks and initiatives such as Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate, the Buildings Breakthrough and the Chaillot Declaration are sustaining momentum towards adopting ambitious climate action plans, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), for net-zero buildings ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belem, Brazil between November 10 to 21.

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The Chaillot Declaration saw ministers, mayors and other world leaders discuss the transformative potential of climate action in the buildings sector. “The buildings where we work, shop and live account for a third of global emissions and a third of global waste,” said the Executive Director of Unep Inger Andersen.

 “The good news is that government actions are working. But we must do more and do it faster. I encourage all countries to include plans to rapidly cut emissions from buildings and construction in their new NDCs.”

Kenya, which is a member of  GlobalABC recently launched its Building Code 2024, after nearly six decades. It became operational on March 1, 2025.

The Building Code has a set of regulations that foster innovation, ensuring safety and enhancing sustainability in Kenya’s built environment. 

Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development Alice Wahome welcomed the launch of the report.

“The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction is instrumental in establishing quantifiable targets and providing clear pathways, thereby guiding Kenya’s transformative initiatives and ensuring alignment with shared climate objectives,” she said in a statement. 

Reviewing the decade since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, the report finds 2024 was the first year when continued growth of building construction was decoupled from associated sector greenhouse gas emissions, which have previously plateaued.

It says that by adopting mandatory building energy codes aligned with net-zero emissions, mandatory performance standards and seizing energy efficiency investments, the sector’s energy intensity has reduced by almost 10 per cent while the renewable energy share in final energy demand has increased by nearly five per cent. Additional measures such as circular construction practices, green leases, energy efficient retrofitting of existing buildings, and prioritising the use of low carbon materials, it notes, can further reduce energy consumption, enhance waste management and reduce emissions overall.  Despite this progress, the sector remains a key driver of the climate crisis, consuming 32 per cent of global energy and contributing to 34 per cent of global CO2 emissions.

Climate targets

This is despite urban population growth and income rise, which causes the need for decarbonisation and enhancing the resilience of buildings to become critical in meeting global climate targets. 

The United Nations Environment Programme Emissions Gap Report (2024) highlights the critical need for accelerated action in the building sector to meet global climate goals. To align with a 1.5°C climate pathway, the report projects that the buildings sector will account for around 11 per cent of global mitigation potential by 2035, equivalent to 4.2 GtCO₂e of avoided emissions.

The sector is dependent on materials like cement and steel which are responsible for 18 per cent of global emissions and are a major source of construction waste.

Given nearly half of the world’s buildings that will exist by 2050 have not yet been built, the adoption of ambitious energy building codes is thus critical.

However, data points to a recent decline in highly effective measures like heat pump installations and over 50 per cent of newly constructed floor space in emerging and developing economies is still not covered by building codes.

The report sets out a challenge to major carbon-emitting countries to adopt zero-carbon building energy codes by 2028, to be followed by all other countries no later than 2035. Building codes and integrating building code reform plans in the ongoing submission of NDCs are critical to achieving the COP28 Global Renewables and Energy Efficiency Pledge.

According to the report, major carbon-emitting countries, including the G20 and European Union, must adopt mandatory zero-carbon building energy codes by 2028. “Other countries with existing codes should upgrade to zero-carbon-ready standards and make them mandatory by 2030. Countries without codes must establish a pathway to mandatory adoption by 2035,” it says.

Despite growing awareness, the report says the sector remains significantly off track, with limited change in energy use and inadequate policy enforcement posing major barriers to achieving zero-carbon goals.

Governments, financial institutions and businesses also need to work together to double global building energy efficiency investment from Sh3.4 trillion to Sh67 trillion by 2030.