Sustainable Construction Value Chains

This briefing by the Stockholm Environment Institute, produced as part of the Stockholm+50 meeting, synthesizes reports from GlobalABC, IEA, IRP, and UNEP to analyze the construction sector's environmental impact. It advocates for a value-chain approach to address the sector's high material intensity and proposes five interconnected policy intervention areas to facilitate a sustainable transition.

• The construction sector is the most material-intensive industry globally, responsible for 50% of all global resource extraction. This intensity contributes to several environmental crises, including deforestation, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss.
• To meet the climate mitigation targets of the Paris Agreement amidst rising urbanization and population growth, the construction sector requires better infrastructure with reduced environmental and climate impacts. The brief suggests a value-chain approach to identify sustainability challenges and opportunities across different decision-making stages.
• The document identifies five interconnected areas for policy interventions to drive a step-change in the construction sector's transition, which must engage stakeholders at global, national, and local scales: urban planning, green public procurement, material efficiency and innovation, and transparent and systematic data.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2022). Sustainable Construction Value Chains. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-construction-value-chains/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Sustainable Construction Value Chains. 2022. https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-construction-value-chains/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Sustainable Construction Value Chains |date=3 June 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-construction-value-chains/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2022sustainable, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Sustainable Construction Value Chains}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/sustainable-construction-value-chains/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }