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
Global negotiations at COP30 in Belém have accelerated momentum toward decarbonising the built environment through definitive timelines for ending fossil fuel use. The shift transforms sustainable construction from voluntary ambition into a structural requirement for net zero carbon and net zero whole life carbon outcomes. Policymakers are converging around frameworks that demand whole life carbon assessment and lifecycle assessment to account for embodied carbon across sustainable building design, low carbon construction materials and circular economy in construction principles.
Funding imbalances remain acute. Only a fraction of climate finance supports environmental sustainability in construction and resilient infrastructure, leaving gaps in life cycle cost modelling and resource efficiency in construction. Addressing this shortfall is critical to accelerating carbon footprint reduction and life cycle thinking in construction that ensures buildings can adapt to climatic extremes while achieving carbon neutral construction.
Government proposals linking climate, biodiversity and land use through unified policy instruments indicate an evolution toward circular construction strategies and eco-design for buildings that integrate sustainable material specification and environmental product declarations (EPDs). These measures align with BREEAM and the forthcoming BREEAM v7 standards, reinforcing quantitative accountability in green construction and sustainable building practices.
In the United Kingdom, scrutiny from Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee challenges the misconception that regulation limits housing delivery. Its evidence underscores that low carbon design and green infrastructure are enablers of innovation, not barriers. It signals a policy turning point toward sustainable urban development and eco-friendly construction anchored in end-of-life reuse in construction and building lifecycle performance metrics.
The trajectory is apparent: whole life carbon accounting, embodied carbon in materials tracking and circular economy integration are reshaping global market expectations. Sustainable design decisions are becoming quantifiable obligations, ensuring every low carbon building advances environmental sustainability in construction and measurable carbon footprint of construction reductions consistent with decarbonising the built environment.
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