The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has teamed up with several large construction companies to unveil an initiative aimed at greening the building business.
The joint effort will issue recommendations that seek to cut waste and use of energy and resources, both in the construction of a building and during its lifespan.
Construction giants Lafarge, Skanska and Arcelor are among the founding members of the Sustainable Building and Construction Initiative (SBCI).
The SBCI will set down guidelines for environmentally-friendly buildings but not replace existing “green” codes and ratings that are already being successfully implemented by the United States, Britain and France and others.
Its first priority will be on energy efficiency and emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the principal gas behind global warming, UNEP said.
The agency called on other construction firms, property firms and insurance companies to join the scheme, saying they could benefit by getting access to knowledge about how to design, build and run smart buildings.
The SBCI’s secretariat will be based in Paris, at UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics.
The construction sector directly employs 111 million people worldwide and contributes to around 10 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), the agency said.
At the same time, buildings also account for between 25-40 percent of total energy use; between 30 and 40 percent of solid waste generation; and between 30 and 40 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gas.
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