NAIROBI – 22 November 2023 – The Environmental Rule of Law: Tracking Progress and Charting Future Directions report provides a comprehensive assessment of developments since the release of the First Global Report on Environmental Rule of Law in 2019. Through collecting and analysing data from a survey of 193 UN Member States regarding their laws, institutions, civic engagement, rights and justice, the report highlights the most prevalent aspects of environmental rule of law across countries and tracks progress in addressing the triple planetary crisis. Six cross-cutting findings are highlighted: the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on environmental rule of law, both positive and negative; the recognition and integration of environmental rights has accelerated; there is growing attention to specialised environmental enforcement, particularly in the development and capacity building of institutions; women are champions of environmental rule of law; environmental rule of law is undergoing a technological revolution; and climate change continues to be both a dominant context for environmental rule of law efforts and a driver of actions to advance it. Further, the report makes four recommendations: standardize and track environmental rule of law indicators; develop guidance on environmental rule of law in emergencies and disasters; integrate social justice in environmental institutions; and establish a technology-policy interface. This report seeks to fulfil the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) mandate to promote and advance environmental rule of law pursuant to UNEP’s 2013 Governing Council Decision 27/9, the 2019 United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) Resolution 4/20 which adopted the Fifth Montevideo Programme for the Development and Periodic Review of Environmental Law, as well as the Political Declaration of the special session of the UNEA to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of UNEP.
This news batch contains no substantive sustainable construction development: no major breakthrough in low carbon construction materials, no new whole life carbon assessment mandate, no building-code reform, no retrofit programme, no procurement shift, no BREEAM v7 update and no significant project case study advancing net zero carbon buildings.
The relevant signal is indirect but important. COP31 debate over the timing of the next IPCC reports could shape the 2028 global stocktake, influencing national policy on whole life carbon, embodied carbon, lifecycle assessment, retrofit finance, planning standards and the carbon footprint of construction. Warnings over El Niño costs and weakening natural carbon sinks strengthen the case for climate-resilient, energy-efficient buildings, low carbon design and faster cuts to operational emissions and embodied carbon in materials.
For the construction sector, the absence is commercially revealing. Environmental sustainability in construction remains too often downstream of climate diplomacy rather than central to it, despite the built environment’s major role in energy demand, resource use and emissions. Sustainable building design, eco-design for buildings, circular economy in construction, sustainable material specification and building lifecycle performance need clearer policy treatment if governments are serious about decarbonising the built environment.
The practical agenda remains unchanged: net zero whole life carbon, credible environmental product declarations (EPDs), low embodied carbon materials, life cycle cost analysis, end-of-life reuse in construction, resource efficiency in construction and circular construction strategies must move from specialist practice into mainstream procurement. Without that shift, green construction and eco-friendly construction risk remaining policy aspirations rather than measurable progress in sustainable building practices.
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