About 81% of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) reference buildings as a challenge, to meet a collective carbon emission target of 42%.
Therefore, the World Green Building Council is calling on policymakers to strengthen building plans and policies using its new tool – the NDC Scorecard for Sustainable Buildings.
The tool is expected to reveal gaps in action necessary to decarbonise the buildings sector and prioritise resilience, to meet global climate 2030 targets.
Collectively, commitments fall far short of the 1.5ºC goal, with current commitments on track to meet between 2,6 -3,1 degrees Celsius, of warming over a century.
This was concluded based on 23 out of 195 country submissions.
The buildings and construction sector is a key driver of greenhouse gases, consuming 32% of global energy and contributing to 34% of global CO2 emissions.
Cristina Gamboa, CEO of the World Green Building Council, said “alongside our network of more than 75 Green Building Councils and their 48,000 private sector and government members, we have been through a journey of growth — and we’ve learned that to achieve true sustainable transformation, after the global consensus must come local action and implementation. And we are now in that era of implementation. In this spirit, the NDC Scorecard for Sustainable Buildings has been created to identify the policy gaps and opportunities for governments and industry. We are hoping to mobilise a clear and coordinated government response ahead of COP30 to #BeBoldOnBuildings, which means scaling the sustainable building solutions that work in line with the Global Stocktake.”
WorldGBC and the Green Building Council network is hoping to use the months between now and COP30, to inspire and support governments to strengthen the buildings components of their NDCs and policies, using the newly created NDC Scorecard tool.
The tool was developed by WorldGBC and five pilot GBCs in Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Nigeria and Philippines; as well as in consultation with a wider global network of 40 organisations (GBCs, industry stakeholders and international organisations) to ensure local circumstance and nuances were prioritised.
Picture: Adobe Stock