BRE: Money is the Biggest Barrier to Building Sustainability

A significant alliance of international green building entities has unveiled an initiative aimed at broadening the reach of sustainable finance within the global building industry.

Among these organisations is the Building Research Establishment (BRE), a UK-based building science centre, which hoped to bridge the investment gap between high-performing green buildings and their less sustainable counterparts.

This influential coalition's report reveals a concerning statistic: about 75% of existing buildings fall short on sustainable practices.

The initiative's goal is to widen the availability of green finance, thereby fast-tracking decarbonisation initiatives throughout the construction sector, which is responsible for nearly 21% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions.

Jane Goddard, Deputy Chief Executive of BRE, says: "Bridging the gap between high-performing and underperforming buildings is essential to achieving our global decarbonisation goals.

"This report underlines the importance of inclusive investment strategies that unlock capital for the majority of buildings, ensuring that no part of the built environment is left behind."

Systemic transformation in green building finance

The coalition's report delivers three principal recommendations to make sustainable finance more inclusive and effective within the building sector.

Firstly, it advocates for robust policy frameworks and a revamped taxonomy directed at underperforming buildings.

These recommendations propose performance-based criteria tailored to diverse building types, ensuring investments permeate through the entire building infrastructure.

Secondly, the development of global standards and metrics for decarbonisation that span various building types and geographical areas is proposed.

The report suggests that a universal strategy would assist building proprietors worldwide in achieving measurable environmental improvements.

UK Green Building Council: Decarbonisation roadblocks

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), a leading network that promotes sustainability within the built environment, says the UK's sectoral emissions remain misaligned with the nation’s net-zero by 2050 goal.

In the UK alone, the building sector accounts for 25% of the national greenhouse gas emissions.

Recent studies reveal that, in the UK, finance is now the predominant barrier to implementing sustainable building practices, taking over from the previous main hurdle—lack of client demand.

The UKGBC has called on the UK Government to channel investment nearing £64bn over the upcoming decade into building retrofit projects.

Julie Hirigoyen, Chief Executive at UKGBC, says: "Our research shows that cost is now the biggest barrier to green building in the UK. Significant government investment in retrofit projects is crucial to overcome this hurdle and accelerate the sector's decarbonisation efforts." 

Organisations in the initiative

Other organisations involved in the initiative include:

• The Green Building Council of Australia, a body that educates industry, government practitioners, and decision-makers while promoting green building programmes, technologies, design practices and operations.
• Singapore Green Building Council, a member-led, not-for-profit industry organisation advancing green building practices and sustainability throughout the built environment sector.
• The US Green Building Council, which is committed to transforming how US buildings are designed, constructed and operated via LEED, a premier third-party verification system for sustainable structures globally.
• Alliance HQE-GBC, a France-based alliance of construction industry professionals dedicated to fostering a sustainable quality of life by collaborating with unions, professional federations, companies, local authorities and influential individuals.

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