Cities across Europe, North America and Asia are enforcing stricter building codes to accelerate sustainability in construction, focusing on deep retrofits, carbon performance, and asset-level compliance. These developments reflect growing commitment to reducing the carbon footprint of construction, particularly from existing buildings that dominate emissions in urban areas. Regulatory updates often include mandates for whole life carbon assessment and more rigorous tracking of embodied carbon in materials.
The integration of smart building systems is bolstering environmental sustainability in construction. A surge in environmental sensors is improving building lifecycle performance by enabling real-time monitoring of occupancy, temperature and CO₂ levels. These technologies support low carbon design by allowing building managers to optimise energy use without extensive structural renovations, making them a practical tool for sustainable building practices.
In Italy, Anaergia’s expansion of anaerobic digestion infrastructure at Moglia underscores the growing role of circular economy principles in sustainable urban development. By generating renewable energy and valuable soil products from organic waste, such facilities support eco-design for buildings by reducing dependence on virgin resources and promoting low embodied carbon materials within broader infrastructure ecosystems.
A government-backed agreement in Brazil is advancing the potential construction of a biotech facility by Cemvita, pointing to emerging interest in net zero carbon buildings across South America. Though not strictly within the domain of architecture, such industrial projects demonstrate the region’s readiness to adopt carbon neutral construction frameworks and support decarbonising the built environment on a broader scale.
The Scottish Government’s approval of the Berwick Bank offshore wind farm illustrates continued investment in green infrastructure. While not directly tied to property development, this renewable generation capacity increases the viability of energy-efficient buildings and supports the overall shift towards net zero whole life carbon targets in the built environment.
Despite the trend towards green finance, Barclays' exit from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance signals uncertainty in funding alignment. Financial institutions play a critical role in enabling life cycle cost transparency and allocating capital towards sustainable design projects. Such moves may impact efforts to scale up low carbon building solutions globally.
