7.5.1 Couple social and environmental justice in developing ethical decarbonisation policies.

A just transition means that the benefits of a green economy are widely shared across all sectors of society, ultimately advancing all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Increasing stakeholder engagement and cooperation across the lifecycle, from producers to demolition companies, is critical to ensuring a just transition. However, a coherent climate mitigation strategy must be coupled with assertive regulation of labour markets, and without it a just transition could fail, as multiple building material sectors are already some of the highest-at-risk for forced and unjust labour practices.
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The transition to bio-based and circular material economies may exacerbate these risks across the supply chain, especially in informal economies where building codes are extremely difficult to enforce. Therefore, it is crucial that governments seise the opportunity of coupling social and environmental justice with fair and visible labelling and certification processes to raise awareness among consumers, since the two issues combined may ultimately have greater market ‘pull’ than either issue labelled separately.

Sustainable Development Goal 5 is dedicated to ending gender inequality that creates impediments to effective sustainable development. As outlined in the 2022 report of the United Nations Secretary-General, better environmental outcomes can be attained through achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the context of climate change and disaster risk reduction policies. Increased participation of women in decision-making and management of regional natural resources can result in more inclusive and equitable governance as well as more favourable conservation outcomes (United Nations 2022b). There are opportunities to address gender and minority inequalities across the building lifecycle including land use, planning, design, construction, management and end-of-life (see Annex 7).
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Although gender bias is prevalent across the built environment sector, it tends to manifest differently across regions. In the formal sectors, the two principal issues to act on are: 1) closing the large gender pay gaps that persist across architecture, engineering and construction industries, (AIA, 2020) and 2) addressing the dominance of men in senior decision-making and administrative roles. In many informal construction sectors, women’s economic contribution to settlements remains unpaid, unrecognised and undervalued. Women are often employed in the most hazardous, labour-intensive and low-paying jobs, with gender pay gaps ranging from 30 per cent to 50 per cent (Baruah 2010).

The success of government policies, financial incentives, regulations, and schemes in reducing carbon and improving the resilience of the building sector will depend on the availability of a skilled workforce to implement these changes. The shortage of “green-collar” professionals with cutting-edge skills in energy efficiency, low carbon engineering, and skilled construction labour has been identified in a number of countries as a major obstacle in implementing national strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions or address environmental changes (International Labour Organisation, 2011).
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Overall, the challenge of promoting and implementing high performing buildings lies in the transition from traditional construction practices to sustainable alternatives and the lack of skills is considered a bottleneck for the growth of a low carbon building sector.