Extreme heat, drought and wildfires are among the factors that have contributed to a rise in deadly air pollution, especially in the Western part of the country, said Katherine Pruitt, author of the report and senior director of the American Lung Association’s Nationwide Clean Air Policy.
“The air pollution produced by wildfire smoke is getting worse every year,” Pruitt said. “Climate change is contributing to that situation, and those wildfires are a very serious threat to our health.”
In 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act into law, and since then, emissions of outdoor air pollutants have dropped 78%, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
“But there still are way too many people breathing unhealthy air,” Pruitt said, adding that since the American Lung Association launched its annual “State of the Air” report in 2000, she has seen a shift in air pollution becoming a growing problem in the West.
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Digitalisation and decarbonisation are integrating at pace across sustainable construction. At Scotland’s Monklands project, digital workflows enable whole life carbon assessment and precision tracking of embodied carbon, cutting life cycle cost through predictive design and optimised offsite fabrication. The Durham initiative applying automated site assessment tools has accelerated approvals while reducing the carbon footprint of construction, aligning data efficiency with environmental sustainability in construction.
In Liverpool, biophilic eco-design for buildings demonstrates how sustainable building design is contributing to low carbon design and improved occupant wellbeing through living architecture that enhances green infrastructure. Government policy now links affordability with sustainability. Early measures from the Burnham administration suggest a commitment to decarbonising the built environment and net zero carbon buildings through incentives rooted in life cycle thinking in construction.
Regulatory pressure is mounting as agencies introduce more robust frameworks for carbon footprint reduction, reinforcing accountability across the industry. Material innovation remains central to progress. Enzyme‑based recycling and a £125 million facility for chemical reuse in Darlington indicate that circular economy in construction and circular construction strategies are moving into mainstream infrastructure.
These advances in low embodied carbon materials, renewable building materials, and green building products signal a shift towards carbon neutral construction supported by verifiable environmental product declarations (EPDs). Across digital tools, biomimetic systems, and progressive material science, sustainable building practices are redefining building lifecycle performance, embedding whole life carbon accountability into every stage. Efficiency, resilience, and ecology are converging to deliver net zero whole life carbon outcomes consistent with BREEAM v7 principles, confirming that sustainable design is now integral to construction’s economic and environmental logic.
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