Construction Industry Emissions to Blow 50Gt Hole In Global Carbon Budget: Report

Construction industry to seek new solutions, innovations, ideas to avoid carbon footprint

The report from Preoptima, a cloud-based software company, stated the construction industry is on track to blow a massive 50 Gt hole in the global carbon budget. Preoptima's analysis shows that the world could avoid over 10 GW of CO2 by 2030 by taking early action. This represents an extraordinary level of emissions avoidance potential, equivalent to China's entire annual carbon footprint in 2021.

To achieve this, the report argues that the construction industry needs to move beyond "whole-life carbon assessment solutions" towards "whole-life carbon avoidance solutions" that minimize embodied carbon emissions at the earliest opportunity in a building's lifecycle.

Preoptima's cloud-based software platform is one such solution, offering a way to avoid at least 1 Gt of CO2 emissions by 2030 if 10% of future global floor area goes through the platform. As the construction industry seeks new solutions, innovations, and ideas to help make the future of construction as green as possible, the report argues that avoiding embodied building emissions is one of the most impactful actions the sector can take to combat the climate crisis and protect the global carbon budget.

With its cloud-based software platform, Preoptima is making the case for early action on embodied carbon emissions in the industry. This report highlights the urgent need to address embodied carbon emissions in the construction industry. By taking early action and using innovative solutions like Preoptima's cloud-based software platform, the sector can play a crucial role in combating the climate crisis and protecting the global carbon budget. It's time for the industry to embrace whole-life carbon avoidance solutions and work towards a sustainable, low-carbon future.

Professor Francesco Pomponi, Co-Founder and CSO of Preoptima, said: "Cutting embodied carbon emissions every year by 20% is approximately the equivalent of eliminating emissions from aviation altogether. The big difference is that the former is much more doable than the latter. And can be achieved much sooner.

"The construction industry has a duty and moral responsibility to rise to the challenge. "The embodied carbon of buildings matters now; if left unchecked, it can add up to 50 g/t CO2e to the atmosphere by 2030, and we simply don’t have the luxury to waste carbon budgets."

"This enormous avoidance potential starts with the best possible design at the earliest opportunity. After a decade of research, I was convinced we had the knowledge to build a revolutionary solution that does what the human brain cannot do: explore the full design space and maximize carbon reductions.

"The carbon avoidance potential will be much bigger when we have commercially available net-zero steel and concrete and when heat is fully decarbonized." But until then, optimizing building design to minimize embodied carbon is perhaps the lowest-hanging fruit for the climate crisis."