When Duane Riley turns on his taps, they shudder loudly from the air flowing through the pipes. There's often no water trickling at all.
It's ironic, because Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city, has plenty of water at the moment — authorities and water companies just can't seem to get it to where it's needed.
"There have been times where we've had no water, but I've had a river gushing down my driveway, because there was a leak at the top of our street," Riley told CNN. It took authorities 14 days to fix it, he said.
Joburgers — as residents here call themselves — are no strangers to water scarcity. South Africa is naturally dry, and the climate crisis has hit the nation many times with crippling drought.
Johannesburg is one of many of the world's big cities that are dealing with a perfect storm of crumbling critical infrastructure, lack of maintenance, corruption and insufficient planning for population growth.
Read more at the link in our bio.
📷: Jerome Delay/AP
The UK’s sustainable construction sector is moving from policy statements to measurable performance. The focus on embodied carbon is intensifying as the housing industry establishes an Embodied Carbon and Resource Efficiency Board to integrate whole life carbon assessment into new‑build standards. This development aligns with the growing demand for verified data through lifecycle assessment and environmental product declarations (EPDs), driven by the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Product‑level transparency is becoming an essential compliance factor within the framework of environmental sustainability in construction.
Material innovation is progressing. Wood fibre insulation and other low embodied carbon materials are being adopted in mainstream housebuilding, strengthening sustainable material specification and supporting the circular economy in construction. These renewable building materials combine low carbon design with improved indoor comfort, making green construction an attainable default rather than a niche practice.
Global climate pressures are redefining sustainable building design. The UN‑endorsed National Cooling Action Plan Methodology for the MENA region introduces a model for energy‑efficient buildings that balance passive strategies, efficient systems, and refrigerant management within net zero whole life carbon objectives. The approach complements BREEAM and BREEAM v7 frameworks that encourage eco‑design for buildings and sustainable building practices.
Developers and suppliers face stricter expectations for defensible whole life carbon performance, resource efficiency in construction, and life cycle cost transparency. Those unable to demonstrate reductions in the carbon footprint of construction or to apply circular construction strategies risk exclusion from competitive procurement. Clients and regulators increasingly link carbon neutral construction and sustainable design with building lifecycle performance, demanding actionable evidence that projects contribute to decarbonising the built environment and long‑term sustainability.
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