#BuildingLife is a project led by WorldGBC, and driven by 12 Green Building Councils (GBCs): Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. The project is working to deliver on the European Green Deal aim of a climate neutral Europe by 2050 by working to eliminate both the operational and embodied carbon – ‘Whole Life Carbon’ (WLC) – impact of buildings.
Building and construction is the most heavily emitting sector in the world, and in Europe alone, buildings are responsible for 36% of CO2 emissions and 40% of energy consumption – yet, in many countries, there remains little political and public awareness around how tackling embodied carbon in the built environment can, and must be, a critical piece of the climate crisis solution.
That’s why #BuildingLife is enhancing awareness of the environmental, social and economic benefits of an approach that tackles both operational and embodied carbon across the built environment. Through #BuildingLife, our network continues to target the European market by accelerating public and private sector action on WLC at both a national and regional scale.
We want Europe to get behind #BuildingLife and become the first fully climate neutral continent.
The 12 GBCs driving #BuildingLife across Europe are continuing to galvanise climate action by developing national and regional decarbonisation roadmaps. These roadmaps tackle the whole life environmental impacts of the building and construction sector and underpin WorldGBC’s EU Policy Whole Life Carbon Roadmap, a policy plan to support the European Union in accelerating total decarbonisation. Together, WorldGBC and our network of GBCs are holding sectors to account. We call on them to demonstrate action – not just promises – which address the total environmental impact across the entire life cycle of a building.
We are doing this by:
On the global stage, #BuildingLife further ties into the Buildings Breakthrough, a global platform designed to foster deep collaboration between national governments in a bid to make “near-zero emissions and resilient buildings the new normal by 2030” (1). Led by France and the Kingdom of Morocco and endorsed by 25+ countries, the Breakthrough represents a critical moment where national governments are collaborating together to recognise the role of buildings as a climate solution.
#BuildingLife has received funding from the IKEA Foundation and Laudes Foundation as well as from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Climate Foundation. From June 2023, #BuildingLife was given funding to continue as #BuildingLife2 – the second phase of the project – which will also support the aims of the Built4People partnership. Built4People is a funding partnership under the EU’s Horizon Europe programme and WorldGBC is one of the partners leading the initiative, alongside ECTP and the European Commission.
Follow the campaign at #BuildingLife.
References:
Tuesday 5 March 2024, 14:00—17:30 CET
#BuildingLife Summit 2024, ‘Tackling Whole Life Carbon: Action, Accountability and Affordability’.
A day of dynamic networking and innovation, co-hosted by World Green Building Council and Alliance HQE-GBC France. The Summit is an official pre-forum event tied to the Buildings and Climate Global Forum (7—8 March 2024). Following the successful launch of the Buildings Breakthrough, the Summit will gather for the first time Ministers and high-level representatives to initiate a new impetus in international collaboration for building decarbonisation.
