The Lebanese Sustainable Consumption and Production National Action Plan (SCP-NAP) was developed under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment (MoE) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Industry (MoI) and other key partners under the EU funded SwitchMed programme. with advisory services and technical support from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Plan is part of Lebanon’s efforts to achieve Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. The SCP-NAP (SDG 12.1) prioritizes the mainstreaming of SCP in the industrial sector’s policies and plans and as developed in a participatory and consultative approach. SCP-NAP Summary was also available. Switch to Circular Economy: Under SwitchMed II, a short document "How Lebanon is switching to a Circular Economy" was prepared to present an overview on how the country is implementing activities/policies/programs on SCP and Circular Economy.In this document you will see 10 success stories inspired by the work of SwitchMed in the Lebanese Republic. They show how what began in workshops developed into plans that created a ripple that flowed out around the country. This short publication shows that opportunities for countries from sustainable consumption and production are rich and varied. The Switch to SCP is off and running. SwitchMed is proud to have supported Lebanon in its work to build a society where people and planet thrive and prosper together. Lebanon has already developed integrated plans and a regulatory framework that have SCP at their core. For some time now, it has been building on these, expanding its waste reduction plan, establishing a circular economy, and further developing its work on sustainable water managements and energy solutions. It is clear that SCP is no longer just something discussed in meeting rooms. Now it is happening on the ground, across business and industry, in cities and regions, reducing pollution, improving the air we breathe, and promoting better use of nature’s gifts through resource-efficient and low-carbon consumption and production practices. Demonstration project: UNEP work with Lebanese NGO - Nusaned under SwitchMed II in Lebanon on a community-based pilot in the Mar Mikhael - Gemmayze area in Beirut which seeks to address the challenges of reduction and prevention of food waste and packaging waste to divert them from landfills using concepts of SCP and circular economy. The outputs include: Green and Circular Restaurants Project Report Plastics Circle Report Food Circle Report Guideline for Restaurants Eateries to become Green and Circular For each of these documents 2-page and 10-page factsheet/summary delivered: Nudawwer Project Nudawwer Food Circle Nudawwer Plastics Circle Nudawwer Green and Circular Restaurants SM II Lebanon Nudawwer SM II Lebanon Nudawwer Food Circle SM II Lebanon Nudawwer Plastics Circle SM II Lebanon Nudawwer Green and Circular Restaurants Policy recommendations of the different “circles” Next steps will be the organization of national restitution events and the preparation of communication and awareness raising material. We looking forward to replicate this collaboration in the other on-going projects under SwitchMed II with the Hariri Foundation in Saida.
Water scarcity rather than steel supply is emerging as the defining constraint on sustainable construction. The UN’s warnings of global water bankruptcy are now influencing project finance and whole life carbon assessment, compelling developers to measure environmental sustainability in construction with the same rigour as economic risk. Across the Mountain West, drought conditions and ageing municipal infrastructure reveal the limits of unchecked expansion, positioning sustainable building design as a prerequisite for viable development. Designing with the land has become a primary control within low carbon design frameworks, where resilience and life cycle cost are decisive metrics in both private and public sector portfolios.
Projects worldwide illustrate the contrast between reactive rebuilding and proactive eco-design for buildings. In India, communities exposed to landslides are shifting towards co‑governed green infrastructure and sustainable building practices to repair the ecological damage driving repeated loss, as seen in Indian townships rebuilding after landslides. These approaches align with circular economy principles by integrating end‑of‑life reuse in construction and low embodied carbon materials. In Scotland, increasing rain events underscore the urgency for building lifecycle performance analysis and lifecycle assessment at regional scale to achieve climate‑adaptive and net zero whole life carbon outcomes, coinciding with the Amber warning issued for heavy rain.
Corporate markets are advancing at pace. A major campus renewal in Redmond demonstrates sustainable construction at portfolio level, embedding embodied carbon assessment, resource efficiency in construction, and renewable building materials into master planning, as profiled in Project Profiles: A Sustainable Tech Workplace for the Future in Redmond. This type of low carbon building signals a broader shift toward net zero carbon buildings and carbon neutral construction targets at enterprise scale. Across US cities, award‑winning schemes show that energy‑efficient buildings and affordable models can achieve both low-impact construction and circular economy in construction goals through integrated design and verified environmental product declarations (EPDs).
Policy inconsistencies in grids, codes and supply chains require adaptive specifications using bre methodology such as BREEAM and BREEAM v7 to benchmark environmental impact of construction. Developers must employ life cycle thinking in construction and circular construction strategies to manage uncertainty and decarbonise the built environment. Projects that quantify embodied carbon in materials, whole life carbon, and carbon footprint reduction during early design can identify cost-effective pathways to sustainable urban development, aligning with insights from The Problems With a Fragmented Global Energy Transition.
The industry’s operational brief is clear: integrate water budgets, hazard mapping and sustainable material specification in early-stage planning; prioritise brownfield regeneration and low carbon construction materials; invest in community-led ecological repair; and embed life cycle assessment data within procurement to align carbon and resilience targets. Sustainability is the project framework, not an optional feature, driving a measurable decrease in the carbon footprint of construction and advancing the global transition toward genuinely green construction.
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