Decarbonizing buildings will not be possible without taking a whole lifecycle approach to their construction and ensuring the rapid decarbonisation of building materials. Building material choices made in infrastructure policy, urban planning and building design requirements have profound impacts on GHG emissions. The precise set of policies to optimise building material decarbonisation must be informed by the assessment of the specific context. Regulation is required across all phases of the building life cycle, from extraction of materials through end-of-use of buildings, to ensure the development of a viable, circular supply chain of sustainable material options. Efforts to decarbonise the material supply chain are synergistic with measures undertaken to ensure fair labour and gender equity. This requires radical collaboration and simultaneously supporting material producers/manufacturers and consumers such as architects, developers, communities and building occupants.

Annex 3 provides short summaries on how countries that have very different built environment contexts – Canada, Finland, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Peru and Senegal – can pursue decarbonisation using the “Avoid-Shift-Improve” strategies.