Harmful bleaching of the world's coral has grown to include 84% of the ocean's reefs in the most intense event of its kind in recorded history, the International Coral Reef Initiative announced Wednesday.
It's the fourth global bleaching event since 1998, and has now surpassed bleaching from 2014-17 that hit some two-thirds of reefs, said the ICRI, a mix of more than 100 governments, non-governmental organizations and others. And it's not clear when the current crisis, which began in 2023 and is blamed on warming oceans, will end.
"We may never see the heat stress that causes bleaching dropping below the threshold that triggers a global event," said Mark Eakin, corresponding secretary for the International Coral Reef Society and retired coral monitoring chief for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"We're looking at something that's completely changing the face of our planet and the ability of our oceans to sustain lives and livelihoods," Eakin said.
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📸: LM Otero/AP/File
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.
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