Join 'My Sustainable Living Challenge' in its 2024 Edition and discover a fun and engaging online platform designed to help students learn about sustainability. ‘My Sustainable Living Challenge’ is an online gamified learning platform that provides a six-week interactive journey, offering valuable knowledge on the key sectors of sustainable living such as food, housing, and transportation. It is a journey in an immersive environment where a person can learn about sustainability, system change, the impact of your lifestyle, how to make better choices – in a FUN, interactive setting. Participants answer curated questions and engage in sustainable actions. Progress is tracked through the ‘treemagotchi’. For every question answered correctly and action that is shared, participants see how their tree grow and flourish, ‘nurtured’ by their intention to change. The platform is globally accessible and available in four languages: English, Spanish, French and Russian. The 2024 Edition invites schools, organizations and communities to create teams and represent their campuses. Progress and achievements will be shared with teammates, the other contestants and through social media creating a sense of community and inspiring others to also take action. Over the course of six weeks, teams will compete with each other, earning points for their progress and innovation. Participants will be motivated to take actions that contribute to a more sustainable future, and encouraged to leverage their social media presence to increase the reach of their sustainable practices. The team with the most points earned will be announced as the champions of the challenge. When: The 2024 Global Edition of ‘My Sustainable Living Challenge’ will launch on World Environment Day (5 June) with a webinar presenting the Challenge. The game will run for 6 weeks starting on 19 August. What to do: Recruit a team of up to 10 members of the same university, college, institution, community. Register them on the UNSSC website. Teams are up to 10 members. Each institution can register up to 2 teams. Compete with other schools and represent your school spirit starting August 19! Partners United Nations Systems Staff College (UNSSC) Global Opportunities for Sustainable Development (GO4SDGs) UNEP Sustainable Lifestyles team
European regulators are accelerating the shift towards sustainable construction as the built environment’s carbon footprint faces unprecedented scrutiny. The implementation of the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has converted energy efficiency from aspiration to regulatory obligation, compelling governments and developers to pursue deeper renovation and low carbon design. The debate now centres on embodied carbon and Whole Life Carbon, with clients demanding transparent Whole Life Carbon Assessments that capture emissions across material extraction, manufacturing, and building operation. Managing embodied carbon in materials has become critical for any credible low carbon building strategy and is influencing procurement, investment, and sustainable material specification.
Research in the UK exposes the growing challenge of climate resilience. Extreme heat is undermining site productivity, worker safety, and energy-efficient building performance, forcing reconsideration of temporary power and cooling systems. London’s new “Heat Ready” plan integrates life cycle thinking in construction and underscores the need for sustainable building design that treats adaptation and mitigation with equal weight. The sector’s pivot towards environmental sustainability in construction now demands attention to lifecycle assessment and Life Cycle Cost to ensure solutions are economically and ecologically sound.
Energy infrastructure policy remains pivotal to decarbonising the built environment. Ofgem’s backing for long-duration energy storage will stabilise renewable supply chains essential to net zero whole life carbon targets. Simultaneously, government investment in critical minerals highlights the strategic link between supply security and eco-design for buildings using renewable building materials. This alignment strengthens the Circular Economy in construction and reinforces the role of circular construction strategies in achieving carbon neutral construction. Standards such as BREEAM and BREEAM v7 continue to define best practice for sustainable building design, embedding resource efficiency in construction and enabling measurable carbon footprint reduction.
Across the industry, sustainable building practices are evolving from compliance measures to core operational principles. The drive toward net zero carbon buildings and green construction has made environmental product declarations (EPDs), low embodied carbon materials, and end-of-life reuse in construction central to green infrastructure planning. The path toward a genuinely eco-friendly construction sector depends on quantifiable carbon footprint reduction, rigorous whole life carbon assessment, and full integration of circular economy principles throughout the building lifecycle performance.
Whole Life Carbon is a platform for the entire construction industry—both in the UK and internationally. We track the latest publications, debates, and events related to whole life guidance and sustainability. If you have any enquiries or opinions to share, please do
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