Figure 2.6.2 Carbon impacts of materials across the whole building life cycle

Figure 2.7 Key stakeholders whose participation is critical to the decarbonisation of buildings at different life phases

They include scientists; architecture, engineering and construction firms; building occupants; and waste management and recovery professionals.

Adapted from Keena and Dyson 2017; Keena et al. 2023.

Figure 2.9 Transitioning building materials to a low-carbon future

Source: Ciardullo, Reck and Dyson 2023. Global emissions from Zhong et al. 2021; OECD 2022a. Material mass and recycling rates from: Miatto et al. 2017 (cement); Cullen, Allwood and Bambach 2012 (steel); International Aluminium Institute [IAI] 2020; Westbroek et al. 2021 (glass); Miatto et al. 2022 (masonry); Geyer, Jambeck and Law 2017 (plastics); Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations [FAO] 2020 (timber).

Figure 3.1 Opportunities to reduce carbon at each phase of the building life cycle

Decarbonisation requires a change in use across all building materials.

Source: Keena, Rondinel-Oviedo and Acevedo De los Ríos 2023, adapted from Akbarnezhad and Xiao 2017.

Figure 3.3 Representative housing in Lima and Montréal and typical materials used,
by mass and volume, 2019

Whereas concrete dominates in Lima’s buildings, material use in Montréal is more diverse.

Source: Keena et al. 2023

Figure 3.4 Carbon impacts of different end-of-use strategies in Lima and Montréal

Re-use and recycling had the greatest potential for decarbonizing housing, compared to landfill.

Note: Scenario 1 (S1) = Selective Deconstruction (Lima: 84% re-use, 15% recycle; Montréal: 77% re-use, 21% recycle), Scenario 2 (S2) = Recycling (Lima: 96% recycling, Montréal: 94% recycling), and Scenario 3 (S3) = 100% Landfill. The legend shows assumptions on the levels of re-use and recycling viability. Source: Keena et al. 2023