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
Peel Waters has submitted a new planning application for Mea Park West, a major part of the Wirral Waters regeneration scheme in the UK. The development is centred on low carbon design, featuring green infrastructure, cycle networks, and public realm improvements. Positioned as one of the country’s most ambitious projects, the expansion is expected to strengthen sustainable building practices while supporting net zero carbon ambitions and local employment. The project reflects a shift towards sustainable urban development where environmental sustainability in construction is treated as a baseline requirement rather than an add-on.
Unifi has introduced ThermaLoop, an insulation derived from REPREVE® recycled textiles, bringing the Circular Economy into the spotlight. The closed-loop takeback programme used to create the material addresses embodied carbon in materials and reduces the carbon footprint of construction through innovative resource efficiency in construction. Products like this signal a move towards low embodied carbon materials and renewable building materials, ensuring insulation plays a larger role in whole life carbon assessment and sustainable building design.
Ameresco has completed a $5.3 million energy infrastructure project at Ave Maria University. The scheme delivered solar power, HVAC upgrades, and smart metering to curb emissions and enhance energy-efficient buildings. While campus facilities are often older and energy-intensive, this project demonstrates how targeted retrofits support net zero whole life carbon objectives and long-term building lifecycle performance. Such investment highlights the role of life cycle cost analysis in planning sustainable building design and meeting expectations for carbon neutral construction.
Shifts in global data suggest major companies are scaling back on ESG marketing while increasing tangible action. More than a quarter of recent emissions reductions stem from private industry initiatives. Within construction, this underscores the importance of whole life carbon strategies, lifecycle assessment, and life cycle thinking in construction as developers focus on measurable outcomes rather than declarations. The trend advances decarbonising the built environment and reinforces the use of circular construction strategies over surface-level claims.
Materials data management is also improving, with collaborations such as Novata and S&P Global Sustainable1 aiming to simplify environmental product declarations (EPDs). Streamlined reporting frameworks aid sustainable material specification, eco-design for buildings, and life cycle thinking in construction. For large-scale investors and developers, these tools support effective circular economy in construction strategies and broaden adoption of sustainable building practices across international projects.
Growing water scarcity around the UK and globally is shaping sustainable design responses. Rainwater harvesting, efficient plumbing, and eco-friendly construction approaches are now central to building lifecycle performance. This redefines sustainable architecture and reinforces the environmental impact of construction on local ecosystems. Integrating low-impact construction techniques improves resilience while aligning projects with green building products and end-of-life reuse in construction, demonstrating how environmental sustainability in construction can mitigate resource threats.
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