UrbanShift Annual Report 2022-2023

United Nations 3 years ago

In the second full year of the program, UrbanShift, the Global Environment Facility-funded partnership led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), scaled up its two-pillar approach to advancing integrated urban planning approaches through on-the-ground engagement with cities and capacity-strengthening across the sector, built around  eight essential focus areas that collectively reflect best practices for creating sustainable, equitable and livable cities.  Spanning around 30 events that reached over 2,300 people and the launch of essential resources like the Online City Academy, the Geospatial Indicators Dashboard and the Guide to Public-Private Collaboration in the Global South, 2022-2023 was a momentous year for Urban Shift. This second Annual Report dives into progress made on the ground in the 23 cities within the UrbanShift network and highlights standout moments from UrbanShift's Global Platform activities.
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layersDaily Sustainability Digest

Published about 1 hour ago



Sustainable construction is shifting from ambition to procurement discipline, with whole life carbon, embodied carbon and whole life carbon assessment moving to the centre of material selection, planning risk and project delivery.

Holcim’s push to scale calcined clay in Czechia signals a maturing market for low carbon construction materials, as cement and concrete producers move clinker reduction from trial projects into commercial supply chains. The advance supports low carbon design, net zero carbon buildings and carbon footprint reduction, while strengthening the case for lifecycle assessment, environmental product declarations (EPDs) and sustainable material specification across major projects.

Regulatory pressure on chemicals is becoming a defining issue for environmental sustainability in construction. US state-level PFAS restrictions are creating compliance complexity for sealants, coatings, membranes and treated materials, with implications for global manufacturers and specifiers. Durable construction products will increasingly need to prove both performance and toxicological restraint, reshaping green building materials, green building products and sustainable building practices. This scrutiny reinforces life cycle thinking in construction, resource efficiency in construction and the wider circular economy in construction.

The UK policy debate around faster infrastructure delivery, energy strategy and environmental regulation highlights the tension between speed and credible decarbonising the built environment. Faster consent will not automatically deliver net zero whole life carbon, low embodied carbon materials or energy-efficient buildings unless planning reform is tied to sustainable building design, eco-design for buildings and robust building lifecycle performance. For developers, contractors and suppliers, the commercial priority is clear: align low carbon building strategies with life cycle cost, BREEAM, BREEAM v7 and circular construction strategies, or risk being overtaken as green construction standards become more forensic and fragmented.

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