A UN report has confirmed what some coastal communities are already feeling – the ocean is rising faster than any point in recorded history.
Human-caused climate change is making our ocean warmer. It is absorbing about 91% of the heat caused by global warming. When water heats up, it expands and takes up more space. This, and melting glaciers and ice sheets, is causing seas to rise at record pace – 5.9mm in 2024 alone, up from an average 4.7mm between 2014-2023.
Next week, Pre-COP takes place in Tuvalu and Fiji, bringing leaders, country delegations and experts to one of the regions most affected by sea level rise. The Pacific region is at the frontline of the climate crisis, the single largest threat to the lives, livelihoods, culture and security of Pacific communities.
Fiji, Tuvalu and Australia are partnering to host this preparatory meeting ahead of COP31 in November putting Pacific voices and Pacific-led solutions in the spotlight.
The facts are clear: the choices we make now will determine how well we can protect communities and economies around the globe.
#PreCOP31
UK housing delivery is facing a policy-and-performance squeeze as planning permissions for new homes reportedly fall 21% in the latest quarter to a record low.
The decline exposes a central challenge for sustainable construction: decarbonising the built environment depends on homes being consented, built and connected to infrastructure under enforceable standards for whole life carbon, embodied carbon, operational energy and climate resilience.
Any renewed push for council housebuilding must prioritise whole life carbon assessment, lifecycle assessment and life cycle cost from the outset, with sustainable building design, low carbon design and net zero whole life carbon treated as delivery requirements, not optional enhancements.
Major public-sector estates are becoming critical test beds for environmental sustainability in construction. The consultation on a rebuilt St Mary’s Hospital and expanded Paddington life sciences campus will be judged on whether it can deliver net zero carbon buildings, energy-efficient buildings and low carbon building performance in assets known for high power, cooling and materials demand. Credible schemes should align with BREEAM and emerging BREEAM v7 expectations, quantify the carbon footprint of construction, reduce embodied carbon in materials, use environmental product declarations (EPDs), specify low embodied carbon materials and adopt circular economy in construction principles through resource efficiency in construction and end-of-life reuse in construction.
The government’s £79m support for tree planting and local nature recovery strengthens the link between green infrastructure and sustainable urban development. Nature-based cooling, drainage, biodiversity and flood resilience are becoming central to sustainable building practices, eco-design for buildings and low-impact construction. Developers relying on green construction, eco-friendly construction, renewable building materials, green building materials and green building products will need to demonstrate measurable carbon footprint reduction, circular construction strategies and robust building lifecycle performance. The direction of travel is clear: sustainability in construction is shifting towards evidence-led sustainable architecture, sustainable material specification and carbon neutral construction grounded in life cycle thinking in construction.
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