RICS and its partners have launched CLEAR to create a global baseline for whole life carbon reporting, a move with major implications for sustainable construction, sustainable building design and environmental sustainability in construction. A consistent whole life carbon assessment will give developers, investors and regulators a stronger basis to compare projects, test net zero whole life carbon claims and measure the true carbon footprint of construction. It also sharpens scrutiny of embodied carbon, embodied carbon in materials and the role of low embodied carbon materials in net zero carbon buildings. For project teams, clearer reporting links lifecycle assessment to life cycle cost, building lifecycle performance and life cycle thinking in construction, turning low carbon design from marketing language into auditable practice.

King’s College London has introduced a tool to identify reuse opportunities for materials, reinforcing the shift towards a circular economy in construction. That matters for eco-design for buildings, sustainable design and sustainable material specification because it pushes firms to retain value in assets rather than default to demolition and disposal. The scale of waste is severe, with inefficient resource use estimated to cost £22.1tn a year globally, exposing the environmental impact of construction and the commercial weakness of linear procurement. The direction is clear: sustainable building practices will be judged by resource efficiency in construction, end-of-life reuse in construction, circular construction strategies and the use of low carbon construction materials, green building materials and renewable building materials as the sector accelerates work on decarbonising the built environment.