Coral reefs around the world are experiencing a mass bleaching event as the climate crisis drives record-breaking ocean heat, two scientific bodies recently announced — with some experts warning this could become the worst bleaching period in recorded history.
More than 54% of the world’s coral reef areas have experienced bleaching in the past year, affecting at least 53 countries and territories including large swaths of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, a joint statement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and The International Coral Reef Initiative said.
“It is likely that this event will surpass the previous peak of 56.1% soon,” Derek Manzello, the coordinator for NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program, said in an email to CNN. “The percentage of reef areas experiencing bleaching-level heat stress has been increasing by roughly 1% per week.”
This marks the world’s fourth global bleaching event, and the second in the past decade – with previous periods in 1998, 2010, and between 2014-2017.
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📸: Bex Wright/CNN
Efforts to decarbonise the United Kingdom’s building stock have accelerated with Grosvenor Property UK reporting a 38 per cent reduction in portfolio emissions since 2019. The company’s strategy combines energy‑efficiency retrofits, data‑driven energy management and a wider focus on whole life carbon accounting. By embedding principles of sustainable building design and low carbon construction materials, the developer demonstrates how large estates can advance toward net zero whole life carbon performance. Progress at this scale signals a measurable shift in environmental sustainability in construction, where life cycle cost, operational energy and embodied carbon are managed from design to demolition.
Policy support has followed suit. The Government’s new Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan sets out a framework to align decarbonisation of every sector, including the built environment, with economic growth. By suggesting mandatory whole life carbon assessment for future projects and incorporating lifecycle assessment techniques into national guidance, the plan clarifies how green construction will underpin infrastructure delivery over the next decade. This national direction on sustainable construction aims to reduce the carbon footprint of construction activities while promoting resource efficiency in construction projects and encouraging circular construction strategies.
Investment activity reflects a similar transition. Sustainable Ventures has opened a climate‑tech hub in Manchester to incubate start‑ups targeting the embodied carbon in materials and technologies driving low embodied carbon materials innovation. The initiative positions the North as a centre for eco‑design for buildings and carbon neutral construction start‑ups, supporting research into renewable building materials and end‑of‑life reuse in construction systems. Such hubs act as testing grounds for sustainable building practices and create measurable improvements in building lifecycle performance through applied life cycle thinking in construction.
Financial markets are also channeling capital into sustainable architecture and low impact infrastructure. Iberdrola’s €1 billion green hybrid bond demonstrates growing investor confidence in sustainable building products and green infrastructure. With funding earmarked for energy‑efficient buildings and renewable energy integration, these instruments strengthen net zero carbon building pipelines and support the broader decarbonising of the built environment. Adoption of BREEAM v7 and comparable assessment standards ensures that financiers and developers can quantify environmental product declarations (EPDs) and the environmental impact of construction projects with transparency.
Local programmes reinforce this national momentum. Greater Manchester’s Renew Community Fund has allocated £220,000 to reuse and repair initiatives promoting the circular economy in construction. By extending product lifespans, encouraging sustainable material specification and supporting low carbon design, these projects turn the circular economy into a practical driver of sustainable urban development. Together, these industry, policy and financial actions mark a turning point for the UK’s sustainable construction movement, where carbon footprint reduction is not rhetoric but measurable practice across the full building lifecycle.
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