Global situation
The global risks of climate change and impacts of greenhouse gases on our ecosystem, urban structures, and supply chains are unmistakable and directly measurable. Already, records show significantly increased damage from severe weather events such as prolonged periods of heat or drought, forest fires, melting glaciers, hurricanes, floods, and sea level rise. In this context, the production of construction materials and the operation of buildings accounted for a significant share of global CO2 emissions in 2018, at around 39%. According to recent calculations by Munich Re, weather-related natural catastrophes have caused total losses of around USD 4,200 billion and the deaths of nearly one million people since 1980.
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Opportunities for the construction industry
Disruptive technologies have not yet been sufficiently mobilized for sustainability transformations. To radically reverse current greenhouse gas-intensive growth patterns, governments need to create different incentive schemes to encourage the development of low-carbon solutions and business models. To this end, the following 3 innovation clusters provide a framework to develop sustainability solutions to reduce CO2 emissions:
- Energy technologies (renewable energy, smart control systems).
- Material development (CO2-reduced concrete, steel and asphalt production)
- Process integration and end-to-end life-cycle management (including topics such as modular construction, offsite manufacturing and housing & mobility integration)
The energy refurbishment of existing buildings and the use of renewable energies continue to be a topic with a large CO2 savings potential.
The still strong dependence on the basic building materials concrete, steel and asphalt as well as currently still the lack of alternative and economical building materials make CO2 savings in the materials sector still difficult in the medium term. Nevertheless, the first successes of concrete manufacturers and startups can be seen, which are already able to produce concretes with a 70% CO2 reduction using Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture Utilization (CCU) processes. In addition, efforts are underway to develop textile fiber-reinforced concrete (C3 Carbon Concrete Composite), which, with significantly slimmer cross-sections, enable an environmentally friendly and resource-saving alternative. Efforts to increase the use of recycled concrete do not appear to be very attractive for the market at present.
Bild: shutterstock.com
