There isn't much green in the Sahara Desert, but after an unusual influx of rain, the color can be seen from space creeping into parts of one of the driest places in the world.
Satellites recently captured plant life blooming in parts of the typically arid southern Sahara after storms moved there when they shouldn't. It has also caused catastrophic flooding. And scientists say a world warming due to fossil fuel pollution is making both more likely.
Rainfall north of the equator in Africa typically increases from July through September as the West African Monsoon kicks into gear. But since at least mid-July, this zone has shifted farther north than it typically should, sending storms into the southern Sahara, including portions of Niger, Chad, Sudan and even as far north as Libya, according to data from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
As a result, these portions of the Sahara Desert are anywhere from twice as wet to more than six times wetter than they should be.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📷: CIRA/RAMMB
Regulatory pressure and economic constraint are reshaping sustainable construction into a discipline centred on evidence, cost, and measurable impact. London’s evolving planning regime, tightly aligned with whole life carbon assessment and BREEAM V7 methodology, is accelerating the transition toward genuinely low‑carbon building design. Developers are confronting the need to quantify embodied carbon and integrate lifecycle assessment within financial models that link life cycle cost to environmental performance. The outcome is a clearer definition of what net zero carbon buildings mean in practice—structures designed through sustainable building practices that balance performance, durability, and affordability through low embodied carbon materials and renewable building resources.
Financial uncertainty continues to challenge project delivery, but innovation in eco‑design for buildings is shaping resilience. Bio‑based composites, recycled aggregates, and other low carbon construction materials are reducing the carbon footprint of construction while improving building lifecycle performance. These advances reflect a growing commitment to circular economy principles, encouraging end‑of‑life reuse in construction and integrating circular construction strategies into procurement frameworks.
Market demand for environmental product declarations (EPDs) is rising as investors seek transparency on the environmental impact of construction and its contribution to net zero whole life carbon goals. The global agenda is shifting toward decarbonising the built environment, supported by policies that embed resource efficiency in construction and promote sustainable building design as standard practice rather than innovation.
The push for environmentally sustainable architecture is strengthening links between sustainable material specification and life cycle thinking in construction, driving green infrastructure investment and supporting net zero carbon pathways across urban systems. The sector’s trajectory suggests that environmental sustainability in construction is no longer an aspirational narrative but a measurable economic driver shaping the future of low carbon design and sustainable urban development worldwide.
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