Eco-Friendly Building Materials for Sustainable Development
From mass timber buildings to future-focused furniture, architects, designers, and builders need to prioritize the entire supply chain of sustainable building materials
W
ith the recent conclusion of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties in Glasgow, the world’s supply chain remains in turmoil. Unprecedented bottlenecks at ports are causing material shortages, construction delays, rising costs, and other harmful disruptions across industries. But in this moment of chaos and climate crisis, we also find an opportunity to redefine the building sector. By shifting our focus to sustainable building materials and
products, we can make a profound difference in decreasing carbon emissions, improving the resilience of global supply chains, and bringing about a more sustainable future. Each country and every sector has a part to play in taking climate action. The building sector, in particular, has the chance now, today, to take a leadership role and swiftly start enacting positive change. Buildings generate over 40% of emissions with embodied carbon— that is, CO2 released through the harvesting, manufacture, and transportation of raw materials used in construction—accounting for around 11% of total emissions annually. That proportion is growing as building operations become more efficient, and by 2050, embodied carbon could come to represent half of all building-related emissions.
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