Halfway up the coast of Western Australia, American tourists Emily Wapman and Evan Risucci are riding a gentle current off Turquoise Bay, one of the country’s most remote and beautiful beaches.
It’s called drift snorkeling, and the water’s guiding them over Ningaloo, one of the world’s longest near-shore reefs, revealing coral that’s as white as the sand on the sea floor — drained of color by the stress of a severe and prolonged marine heatwave.
The Californians met in December on a dating app and are now touring Australia in an aging four-wheel drive they bought online and equipped for adventure.
Risucci, a filmmaker, admits he knows little about coral but is learning a lot from his travel companion. “I thought that the white coral was the live coral,” he said, squinting in the harsh Australian sun.
“It’d be good for tourists to know what’s actually happening,” he said. “Someone from the United States might come here and think, ‘wow, this is so pretty,’ and be completely oblivious to the fact that it’s all dead.”
It’s not all dead, molecular ecologist Kate Quigley told CNN from a boat bobbing above Tantabiddi Sanctuary Zone, a popular destination for local tour boats within Ningaloo Marine Park off the West Australian coast. Ningaloo Reef is sick, like many coral reefs around the world.
Read more at the link in @cnnclimate’s bio. #calltoearth
📸: Nush Freedman for CNN
The UK construction sector displayed meaningful movement toward sustainability and measurable decarbonisation during the past week. The Alliance for Sustainable Building Products strengthened the ACAN Circular Economy Policy Campaign, signalling stronger support for circular economy in construction. The partnership aims to embed life cycle thinking in construction through improved material reuse, reduced reliance on virgin resources, and end-of-life reuse in construction. This approach reinforces sustainable construction practices by shifting attention to building lifecycle performance and whole life carbon assessment, ensuring that sustainability becomes measurable through transparent carbon data from design to demolition.
Equans, the energy and services arm of Bouygues, achieved Building a Safer Future ‘Champion’ status, demonstrating both compliance and leadership in sustainable building design. The recognition highlights its role in retrofit projects where embodied carbon in materials and life cycle cost carry weight equal to financial metrics. Equans’ work in regenerating existing housing stock supports low carbon design and promotes net zero whole life carbon outcomes, setting a benchmark for green construction that integrates resource efficiency in construction with rigorous whole life carbon analysis.
A key development came from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, whose review of energy-from-waste processes pinpointed plastic’s lingering presence in material streams. The proposed reforms encourage a shift toward renewable building materials and more responsible waste strategies, aligning with environmental sustainability in construction goals and reducing the carbon footprint of construction. The review also stresses that circular construction strategies contribute to net zero carbon buildings, supporting eco-friendly construction systems and reducing environmental impact through lifecycle assessment and whole life carbon metrics.
Climate Analytics advanced the conversation on decarbonising the built environment by urging major global polluters in cement and fossil fuel industries to fund direct air carbon capture and storage. By placing financial responsibility on carbon-intensive producers, sustainable material specification and embodied carbon reduction become drivers for cost management and carbon footprint reduction. The anticipated result is a market environment that rewards low embodied carbon materials and low carbon construction materials, providing long-term life cycle cost benefits while propelling the transition to carbon neutral construction.
Further evidence of circular economy integration emerged from research into telecommunications infrastructure, demonstrating that applying eco-design for buildings principles across all built assets—including masts and modular structures—can deliver both sustainability and economic return. The study supports life cycle cost optimisation and reinforces green building products as viable contributors to sustainable urban development. Across every project, from retrofits to new builds, the emphasis is moving decisively toward sustainable building practices that deliver measurable outcomes in carbon reduction, resource efficiency, and net zero carbon performance within the broader fabric of an environmentally responsible and resilient construction sector.
Whole Life Carbon is a platform for the entire construction industry—both in the UK and internationally. We track the latest publications, debates, and events related to whole life guidance and sustainability. If you have any enquiries or opinions to share, please do
get in touch.
