The ULI Net Zero Imperative (NZI) is ULI’s multiyear initiative to accelerate decarbonization in the built environment and advance the organization’s net zero mission priority. Implemented by the ULI Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate, key programs include Technical Assistance Panels (TAPs), which are intense three-day engagements during which a panel of ULI member experts and partners help clients or sponsors, often local governments, think through strategies for advancing their net zero goals.
Climate risk is redrawing geotechnical baselines as permafrost degrades at unprecedented rates, with active layers thickening by more than 36 cm a year in some mountain regions. Foundations, utilities and transport corridors in high latitudes and altitudes face accelerated differential settlement and service disruption. Developers are embedding climate‑driven ground risk into whole life carbon assessment, lifecycle assessment and life cycle cost models to safeguard building lifecycle performance and reduce the environmental impact of construction. Resilience planning is becoming inseparable from sustainable building design, sustainable construction and low carbon design aligned to BREEAM and the expectations shaping BREEAM v7.
London’s commercial market is tilting decisively to adaptive reuse. The 75 London Wall redevelopment demonstrates that retaining structure can deliver Grade A outcomes while slashing embodied carbon and the carbon footprint of construction. Design teams are prioritising embodied carbon in materials, low embodied carbon materials and renewable building materials through sustainable material specification supported by Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Circular economy in construction is moving into day‑to‑day practice via end‑of‑life reuse in construction, circular construction strategies and eco‑design for buildings, strengthening the route to net zero whole life carbon, carbon neutral construction and measurable carbon footprint reduction.
Industrialised methods are scaling across the Benelux, with offsite manufacturing improving resource efficiency in construction, reducing waste and enabling energy‑efficient buildings. Modular delivery and green building products can cut programme emissions, provided procurement and regulation recognise factory time and low carbon construction materials. Stronger oversight of workmanship in the UK is set to bolster mass retrofit, building trust in sustainable building practices that support net zero carbon buildings, green construction, green infrastructure and sustainable urban development.
Leaders are converging resilience and circularity into one brief: integrate climate‑related ground risk into asset strategy, make reuse the default, and industrialise quality to decarbonise the built environment while delivering sustainable design and low carbon building outcomes consistent with whole life carbon goals and net zero carbon.
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