Once data can move freely in the European Union as goods, services, capital, and people already do, it could turbocharge competitiveness. Hungary’s EU Presidency offers the opportunity to put the issue high on the agenda.
Escalating heat and drought risk is forcing a redesign of the built environment. UK reservoir deficits and drought planning make water-sensitive urbanism non-negotiable: mandatory water efficiency, rain- and greywater reuse, and drainage that treats surface water as a resource should be baseline sustainable building practices. Green infrastructure embedded through eco-design for buildings and sustainable urban development can lift building lifecycle performance and cut life cycle cost. Policy and procurement need to hardwire environmental sustainability in construction using whole life carbon assessment and lifecycle assessment so resilience is delivered alongside a smaller environmental impact of construction.
Heat decarbonisation is being slowed by permitting friction and uneven grants that penalise low-income households. Streamlined approvals and targeted support are required to decarbonising the built environment through energy-efficient buildings, low carbon design and net zero carbon buildings. Standards such as BREEAM and breeam v7, aligned with net zero whole life carbon pathways, can mainstream whole life carbon and embodied carbon management across new build and retrofit, shrinking the carbon footprint of construction and accelerating carbon footprint reduction on the path to net zero carbon.
Adaptation must prioritise passive cooling—orientation, fabric-first insulation, external shading and night ventilation—supported by urban trees planted close to homes. Coastal resilience is advancing, with Amsterdam’s floating neighbourhoods showing that amphibious housing is a procurement and planning task, not a fantasy. Project briefs should integrate sustainable building design, sustainable construction and sustainable design with circular economy and circular economy in construction principles: low embodied carbon materials, low carbon construction materials and renewable building materials selected via environmental product declarations (EPDs), plus sustainable material specification that enables end-of-life reuse in construction.
Embodied carbon in materials, circular construction strategies, resource efficiency in construction and life cycle thinking in construction should be measured and managed from design to operation to deliver carbon neutral construction and low-impact construction, verified at whole life cost. Developers embracing eco-friendly construction and green construction, backed by green building materials and green building products, will deliver low carbon building outcomes with demonstrable performance.
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