Construction, one of the sectors with the greatest impact on the environment and climate, is putting increasing emphasis on sustainable development. Trends in the industry aimed at this goal primarily focus on the use of technology and the enhancement of existing and creation of new, smart construction materials that better respond to environmental challenges related to energy efficiency and air quality. “I think that around 2030 we should already see a significant change. However, full sustainability, full circularity, in my opinion, is no earlier than 2040,” says Tomasz Bojęć, Managing Partner at ThinkCo.
Data cited in the ThinkCo report, prepared in cooperation with Autodesk and Wienerberger (“Construction 5.0”), show that this sector has a huge impact on the environment and climate. Buildings are responsible for about 37 percent of all waste generated in the European Union, and globally, the use of construction materials generates about one third of total CO2 emissions. In addition to operational emissions, which are the main subject of regulation in each EU member state, the so-called embedded carbon footprint, which includes the activity of the construction industry related to, among other things, the extraction of raw materials, production and transport of materials, and construction and demolition processes, is also important. All this makes minimizing the negative impact and carbon footprint in this sector one of the most effective ways of mitigating the climate crisis.
“Construction 5.0 is the advancement of the fourth industrial revolution in the construction sector, when – in addition to digitization – sustainability also comes into play. We are increasingly focusing on ecological and social aspects related to sustainable development. In the construction sector, which is by nature very conservative and not particularly associated with ecology, we are still in the early stage of this process. However, legal and social factors mean that we are getting closer to ensuring that construction can also boast a higher level of sustainability,” says Tomasz Bojęć to the Newseria Biznes agency.
Greening the sector is also being driven by regulations adopted in recent years in the EU, which are part of the European Green Deal, a strategy for achieving climate neutrality in 2050. Key among these are the Fit for 55 package and the EU Taxonomy, which has been setting the framework for responsible investments since June 2020, the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), which aims to transition to a circular economy, and the Construction Products Regulation (CPR), which sets the requirements that construction materials must meet in order to be introduced to the EU market.
In April this year, an amendment was adopted according to which manufacturers of construction materials are now required to demonstrate the environmental performance of their product throughout its lifecycle. The amended regulation also sets out rules for green public procurement of construction materials, to be introduced by the end of 2026.
“From a business point of view, the most important seems to be the taxonomy, which is designed so that the value chain in this “greenness” in E, S and G is linked. If a property investor is starting an investment and wants to raise finance for it, they will have to demonstrate a certain level of greening. Otherwise, they will not receive this financing at all or will get a low interest rate, which will derail the entire project. If it is a large entity, its shareholders may also require this,” the ThinkCo expert points out. “This ‘greenness’ will be assessed not only on a point-by-point basis, whether the investor has installed a green roof or used an ecological material in a small part, but suppliers and subcontractors who are as green as possible, meet correspondingly high conditions and are able to confirm this will also have to be sought. This will also affect the assessment of the entire project and the profitability of the business.”
One of the main trends in the industry – resulting from regulations aimed at sustainable development, but also from the preferences of building users – is currently improving existing and creating new, smart construction materials that better respond to environmental challenges related to energy efficiency or air quality. According to the ThinkCo, Autodesk and Wienerberger report, in the entire value chain of construction, the extraction and production of building materials account for 92% of greenhouse gas emissions – of which 43% are attributed to cement and 25% to steel. These are the two most popular construction materials, which is why efforts to reduce their emissions are the most developed.
“The construction sector is responsible for almost 40 percent of CO2 production globally, with the vast majority generated by the production of construction materials. This means that we should devote the most attention to this in order to achieve the best results,” says Tomasz Bojęć. “In the discussion about the emissions of construction, we usually focus on how much CO2 a building generates during its use, in its lifecycle. We try, quite rightly, to lower these ecological costs, for example through modern recovery methods, lowering heating costs. Not only for financial reasons, but just so that the building produces less CO2. However, this is not enough. Shifting environmental responsibility to building owners, apartments or offices and encouraging them to produce less CO2 during the building’s lifecycle is a positive aspect, but it can’t obscure the main goal: to make the production of materials, this initial stage of construction, more eco-friendly.”
An important trend in construction is also an increasing emphasis on circularity and closing the loop, i.e. minimizing consume of building materials, optimizing their lifespan and designing them in such a way that they are suitable for disassembly, recycling and reuse. For materials such as cement, steel, aluminum and gypsum, this could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 75%.
“Achieving a closed-loop economy in construction in the near future will not be easy, because this sector has been focused on making the various elements of the construction sector chain work efficiently, quickly, cheaply and solidly for decades. Now a new factor is being added, which is difficult to implement, and we unfortunately have to be patient, although I believe that strong regulations will ensure we achieve this sooner rather than later,” assesses the managing partner of ThinkCo. “I think that around 2030 we should already see a clear change. However, full sustainability, full circularity, in my opinion, is no earlier than 2040.”
ESG-focused actions provide environmental benefits and economic ones. Despite relatively high associated costs, investors and manufacturers of construction materials can expect savings resulting from reliance on renewable energy or the possibility of reusing recycled raw materials, which reduces the costs of obtaining them.
“The biggest challenge associated with sustainable development in construction is primarily a shortage of staff or, in other words, staff who have so far been taught that this is not their problem. Today it is not enough to simply employ people who know about ecology but know nothing about construction and vice versa. Today we need to train those who know about construction to also understand ecological aspects and to combine these competencies appropriately,” says Tomasz Bojęć.
