2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction
About this book
The 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, produced jointly by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), provides the definitive annual assessment of the buildings and construction sector's progress toward climate neutrality. This edition arrives at a critical juncture: while operational energy intensity of buildings has improved by about 2% annually since 2015, the pace of improvement falls far short of the 4% annual reduction required to align with the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C pathway. The report quantifies the sector's total climate impact: buildings and construction account for approximately 37% of global energy-related CO₂ emissions — 10 GtCO₂ from operational energy use and an additional 3.5 GtCO₂ from the manufacturing of building materials and the construction process itself (embodied carbon).
This places the sector as the single largest end-use contributor to climate change globally, though the split between operational and embodied carbon is shifting as electricity grids decarbonise and building energy codes tighten. Floor area is expanding at a rate of approximately 3 billion m² per year globally, driven by urbanisation in the Global South — equivalent to adding the entire built area of Paris every week. The report examines the implications of this growth for material demand: by 2050, the global building stock is projected to double, requiring massive quantities of cement, steel, aluminium, and glass.
Emissions from building materials manufacturing (clinker production alone contributes 8% of global CO₂) will rise substantially unless radical material efficiency strategies are adopted. Energy efficiency progress is mapped across regions. In developed economies, renovation rates of existing building stock remain critically low — typically 1-2% per year against the 3-5% needed for 2050 targets.
In emerging economies, the challenge is different: new construction follows low energy-performance trajectories that lock in high carbon for decades. The report calls for universal minimum energy performance standards for new buildings by 2025 and net-zero carbon building codes by 2030 in major economies. Embodied carbon governance receives significant attention.
The report notes that fewer than 30 countries have any mandatory reporting requirements for embodied carbon in buildings, and calls for systematic adoption of whole-life carbon assessment protocols, government green public procurement standards for low-carbon materials, and expanded coverage of buildings in national carbon pricing mechanisms. The report presents the Buildings Breakthrough initiative as a coordination framework for accelerating near-zero emission buildings globally, and maps the policy actions needed in each regional context — from strengthening building codes in Southeast Asia to accelerating deep retrofit programmes in Europe and North America.