Build without warming the planet? A first global forum on the subject in Paris

While heat records keep coming across the globe, for the first time ministers responsible for construction or the environment - including Chinese and American representatives, the two countries emitting the most CO2 - are trying to see together how to make the sector less emitting and more resilient.

It's urgent. The UN predicts a doubling of built areas by 2060 across the globe.

However, construction is "a sector where global greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase", notes the office of the French Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu, co-organizer of the event with the UN agency responsible for Unep environment.

The sector is responsible for 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 37% of energy-related CO2 emissions. It also represents 34% of energy demand and captures half of the world's consumption of raw materials, indicate the summit preparation documents.

“Awareness”

“The sector is not on track to achieve decarbonization by 2050 (...) It therefore becomes imperative to fundamentally rethink the way we construct and use our buildings in order to respect the Paris agreement on the climate", signed in 2015, adds the French ministry.

The debates must conclude on Friday with a “Chaillot declaration”, negotiated for several months in the wake of the UN international climate conferences, the last of which, COP28, was held at the end of 2023 in Dubai.

“We clearly feel that there is an increasing international awareness of the impact of buildings on global warming,” Frédéric Vallier, secretary general of the International Hemp Federation (FIHO) based in in Brussels.

“Hemp grew around the world until World War II and has since been ousted by nylon and synthetics, but the world is rediscovering its extraordinary possibilities for agriculture and decarbonizing construction,” explains Mr. Vallier on the stand of the BBCA association, an international group of construction and real estate professionals who have established common standards to enable the sector to adapt.

“Decarbonize and adapt”

The objective of the forum is twofold. “We must both decarbonize and adapt,” underlines Julie Prigent of the French Agency for the Environment and Energy Management (Ademe) which works with BBCA.

If we use local, biosourced materials, which reduce the building's CO2 emissions and reduce energy costs, "it's good, but sometimes insufficient", she points out.

“Buildings must also be able to withstand climatic hazards, which are increasing,” and “adapt” to avoid having to demolish, and thus emit doubly CO2, she specifies.

France is particularly promoting the new buildings of the future Olympic village in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, as adaptable and scalable.

The country is also "ahead" for "regulations and standards" in terms of bioclimatic construction, welcomes Lars Völkel, one of the managers of the Finnish-Swedish group Stora Enso, supplier of renewable materials.

Present at the summit are the largest cement giants and associations and research laboratories such as CRAterre, founded in 1979 in Grenoble, promoter of the use of raw earth.

“In Haiti since the earthquake (in 2010), 15.000 constructions have been carried out on the basis of our recommendations in wood frames and limestone filling,” explains Philippe Garnier, architect-researcher in Craterre who works with NGOs to promote systems resilient reconstruction projects linked to local materials and know-how.

The participants in this first Forum are ministers, but also architects, materials manufacturers, real estate developers, financiers, engineers and international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Energy Agency (IEA) or the World Bank.

The governments represented include the United States, China, Japan, Germany, Egypt, Brazil, Turkey, and many African countries such as Ivory Coast, Cameroon and South Africa.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.