Cite report
IEA, IRENA & UN Climate Change High-Level Champions (2023), Breakthrough Agenda Report 2023, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/breakthrough-agenda-report-2023
Report options
Buildings
State of transition
The buildings sector is not on track for net zero by mid-century, with emissions growing at an average of 1% per year since 2015. Global growth in floor area is more than offsetting the increased efficiency and decarbonisation efforts, where the long lifespan of buildings risks “locking in” vulnerable and high emission infrastructure. A major shift is required to decarbonise the sector while also ensuring it delivers resilience for communities.
- In 2022, buildings sector emissions represent around a third of total energy system emissions, including buildings operations (26%) and embodied emissions (7%) associated with the production of materials used for their construction.
- Operational emissions need to fall by about 50% from their 2022 level by 2030, to get on track with the IEA Net Zero Emissions Scenario (NZE Scenario). Embodied emissions also need to fall by 25% for steel and 20% for cement by 2030.
- There are many aspects to near-zero emission and resilient buildings, including appliances (for heating and cooling) and materials.
- In most markets, low carbon appliances, such as heat pumps, entail higher upfront costs than conventional fossil fuel heating equipment but benefit from lower running costs over their lifetime due to their much higher energy efficiency.
- Total buildings sector floor area is set to continue increasing, with about 80% of the growth through 2030 taking place in emerging and developing economies.
- To achieve net zero by 2050, all new buildings need to be net zero from 2030, up from less than 5% of new buildings today.
- The final energy intensity of the sector has decreased by around 6% since 2015, although this improvement has been outpaced by floor area growth. Energy intensity needs to fall a further 35% by 2030 to be aligned with the IEA Net Zero Scenario.
Progress summary
| Area | What progress has been made? | What more needs to be done? | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
B1. Standards and certification |
Whole-life carbon assessments exist in many countries, mostly voluntary. There is a limited availability of resilience assessments frameworks. Some limited collaboration among developed countries and some private sector organisations to advance compliance with standards and associated certification. |
Governments to harmonise and upgrade definitions of near-zero and resilient buildings, defining and using a common set of concepts and nomenclature. Governments to align frameworks for whole-life carbon assessments and data collection and define resilience assessments. |
|
B2. Demand creation |
Strong aggregated procurement campaigns and policy commitments focused on building appliances and materials, albeit not for heating and cooling and whole building or-project-level. A broad representation of international private sector initiatives, with public sector collaboration at an earlier stage |
Governments to work in partnership with existing forums to aggregate and amplify the demand signal for net zero and resilient buildings, expanding public sector participation and commitment. A greater focus on whole building procurement commitments, covering materials, appliances and construction. |
|
B3. Finance and investment’ |
Investment in energy efficiency and electrification for buildings at an all-time high, but not yet on track for net zero emissions by mid-century, and already showing early signs of slowdown.
Some engagement of IFIs and business in unlocking private sector investment through several forums, although it is still challenging to match requests for support with the right funding and technical partners. |
Governments should increase the scale of financial and technical assistance made available for developing countries.
Improved co-ordination of IFIs and private sector investments to target flagship projects which can then unlock major pipelines of projects in emerging and developing economies in particular. |
|
B4. ‘Research and innovation |
Several well-established collaborative R&D forums already exist – with success in major technologies, such as heat pumping technologies, superinsulation and ventilative cooling. Current forums can be strengthened and expanded to increase and accelerate the impact of research and innovation. |
Governments to co-ordinate on research, development and demonstration priorities to understand knowledge gaps, which can be overcome via joint working. Accelerate the creation of joint programmes to test and demonstrate new technologies, supporting developing country involvement. |
|
B5. Capability and skills |
Several collaborative forums deliver successful training programmes for construction and engineering roles that will be vital for the buildings sector and can be strengthened to build capacity and skills to deliver net zero and resilient buildings. | Countries and companies should jointly define training and capacity-building priorities, strengthening the role of existing networks to provide guidance, tools and resources for curriculum design, as well as international accreditation for education and training. Countries should focus on delivering technical capacity for the implementation and upgrade of building energy codes in countries where most growth in floor area is forecast. |
Buildings recommendations
- Governments should work together to harmonise and upgrade the definitions and nomenclature for net zero and resilient buildings and their performance. Countries should work towards harmonising whole-life carbon assessments, developing resilience assessments, and aligning certification scheme with net zero and resilient requirements. Harmonisation should permit the flexibility to accommodate different regional contexts and should be supported by establishing shared international mechanisms, platforms and formats for data sharing of best-in-class net zero and resilient projects.
- Governments should jointly create and strengthen procurement commitments for net zero and resilient buildings, as well as joining existing low-carbon material procurement alliances. Countries should work to establish new joint commitments on deploying clean and efficient heating and cooling technologies.
- Countries should increase the scale of funding available for net zero and resilient building projects as well as improving the co-ordination of assistance going forward through the establishment of a establish a matchmaking platform dedicated to the delivery of net zero and resilient building projects. This platform would act as a single point of contact for emerging and developing countries, with support from donor countries, MDBs, NDBs, private financial institutions and investors, philanthropic organisations, buildings and real estate companies and technical assistance partners.
- Countries and companies should work together to identify knowledge gaps that can be overcome via joint working, and align RD&D priorities to shared policy goals. Countries should also facilitate the expansion of existing networks to bring in new expertise and country members, and work through those networks to improve communication of high-quality research and best practice, deliver training to deploy innovative technologies, construction practices, tools and business models at scale, using government projects to lead the way.
- Countries and companies should jointly identify knowledge gaps and define training and capacity-building priorities, strengthening the role of existing networks to share knowledge and provide guidance, tools, and resources to build capacity across all regions. This includes a focus on supporting developing countries with implementing and increasing the stringency of building energy codes. Countries should also work together to assist in curriculum design, implementation of training programmes and accreditation frameworks to enhance the transferability of skills and qualifications, and ultimately promote net zero and resilient building practices.