Towards Low-Carbon Design in the Building Sector: Investigating method and benchmark for life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from renovation and the integration of digital tools in the design process

Abstract

Climate change is becoming increasingly more visible around us, with record-setting phenomena such as high temperatures causing heatwaves and wildfires across the world. The human-caused climate change negatively affects the planet with serious consequences, often affecting socially and economically marginalized residents. With the Paris Agreement, nations will pursue efforts to limit the global average temperature to 1.5˚C above preindustrial levels and well below 2˚C. To accomplish this requires immediate cuts in emissions across all sectors. Buildings and construction are responsible for almost 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions, thus offering a significant mitigation potential by decarbonizing material production and operational energy while also improving the design of new and existing buildings.