21 June 2018 – The building sector is one of the most resource-intensive sectors in Europe, accounting for approximately half of all extracted materials, half of total energy consumption, one third of water consumption and one third of waste generation.
This new CLG briefing makes the case for how building materials can be better monitored and managed for greater sustainability, especially through the wider use of materials ‘passporting’ in buildings to facilitate this.
There are clear opportunities associated with a shift to circular economy principles and business models. The Corporate Leaders Group produced a report last year exploring the scale of this opportunity as well as the current barriers to making it reality.
More and more businesses are identifying the huge potential for approaches taking a longer-term view in the building sector, to avoid increasing the carbon footprint of the building through use of carbon-intensive materials or products, to monitor toxicity levels or to not add to the waste stream when the building is renovated again in future.
