President Biden is not expected to attend the opening of the global climate summit in Dubai this week, according to a White House schedule of the president's events.
Instead, top US officials, including special envoy John Kerry and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, will go to the gathering, which will be attended by nearly 200 countries.
Biden has made tackling climate change a cornerstone of his policy agenda and his reelection bid as young voters continue to point to it as a key issue going into 2024. Since taking office, Biden has attended the annual UN climate summit in person in 2021 and 2022. It's unclear whether Biden may participate virtually this year.
The White House declined Monday to specifically say whether Biden would participate in the climate summit with world leaders, but National Security Council spokesman John Kirby pushed back on the notion that he was not traveling due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, saying he was "more than capable" of handling his "global responsibilities."
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📷: Stephanie Scarbrough/AP
Governments are shifting from voluntary measures to regulated mandates as escalating heat and carbon commitments reshape sustainable construction worldwide. The UK’s new National Heat Risk Commission signals that sustainable building design must now integrate overheating resilience as a measurable criterion of environmental sustainability in construction. Global policy trends reinforce this shift, with UN-backed frameworks promoting passive-first, low carbon building strategies across climate-stressed regions.
The Future Homes Hub’s Embodied Carbon and Resource Efficiency Board underscores how embodied carbon and resource efficiency are redefining compliance. Whole life carbon assessment, lifecycle assessment and environmental product declarations (EPDs) are becoming the baseline for sustainable building practices, linking design decisions directly to life cycle cost and long-term performance. The carbon footprint of construction is no longer a theoretical concern but a regulated metric influencing tenders, specifications and procurement standards.
Manufacturers are responding by prioritising low embodied carbon materials and renewable building materials within circular economy strategies. Products supported by verified data on embodied carbon in materials are emerging as preferred options for specifiers pursuing net zero whole life carbon outcomes. Bio-based solutions such as wood fibre insulation now exemplify eco-design for buildings, combining thermal performance with low carbon design that supports energy-efficient buildings and net zero carbon targets.
Across the sector, sustainable material specification and resource efficiency in construction are converging into measurable frameworks aligned with BREEAM and BREEAM v7 standards. These support decarbonising the built environment through circular construction strategies, end-of-life reuse in construction and green building products designed for longer lifecycle performance.
The direction is clear: policy, market and climate conditions are embedding whole life carbon thinking into every stage of sustainable construction. Those leading with verifiable data, sustainable design principles and circular economy in construction models will define the next generation of low-impact, carbon neutral construction aligned with global sustainability goals.
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