Sustainable buildings

Europe’s buildings are responsible for a significant part of its greenhouse gas emissions. If the vast majority of these emissions are produced during the materials extraction and production and use phases of buildings, the emissions generated during the building phase are also part of the whole-lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of buildings, estimated at 5-12% of total national greenhouse emissions by the European Commission.

EBC monitors the development of tools to address whole-lifecycle emissions of buildings to facilitate the uptake and use by construction SMEs and craft trades. These include voluntary tools such as Level(s), a voluntary sustainability reporting framework, or relevant European Standards and provisions in EU legislation, all aiming to curb the overall emissions of Europe’s building stock.