WBCSD unveils Built Environment Market Transformation Action Agenda during Buildings and Climate Global Forum

Paris, 8 March 2024 – The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is proud to announce the official launch of the Built Environment Market Transformation Action Agenda during the first Buildings and Climate Global Forum held in Paris.

The Market Transformation Action Agenda brings together built environment stakeholders from all along the value chain to overcome the key barriers preventing us from achieving a net zero built environment. It acknowledges that the scale of change industry needs is only possible with deep and radical collaboration, in order to achieve our climate goals of halving emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050.

The Action Agenda, co-created by several hundred representations from over 100 companies and organizations, builds on the foundational principles of the Market Transformation Levers for a Net Zero Built Environment, developed by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) – to adopt life-cycle thinking and Whole Life Carbon assessment across the full value chain, to integrate carbon costs in decision-making and to transform supply and demand dynamics.

The holistic and performance-based approach underlying these three market transformation levers represents an opportunity for all stakeholders to innovate and scale solutions along the value chain, adapted to their context and environment and ultimately leading to transformative change for all.

During the Global Engagement Plenary on 8 March 2024, Dame Jo da Silva, Global Director of Sustainable Development at Arup, formally presented the Market Transformation Action Agenda on behalf of WBCSD to an audience of 1’000 participants from governments, industry, finance, cities and organizations representing over 70 countries.

Benoit Bazin, CEO of Saint-Gobain, a leading global building material manufacturer, then presented the key messages from the Global Forum’s CEO Roundtable held the day before. He stressed the strong commitment and alignment of the industry to solve the major challenges that our planet is facing, and he underlined the unprecedented collaboration he is seeing across the entire value chain, evidenced in the Market Transformation Action Agenda.

On behalf of the assembled business leaders, Benoit Bazin welcomed the Ministerial Chaillot Declaration being announced on the day, endorsed by 70 governments, and he reiterated that the business community is ready to support it.

The Buildings and Climate Global Forum also saw the official presentation of the Buildings Breakthrough international priority actions for 2024-25. The Buildings Breakthrough aims to achieve “near-zero emissions and resilient buildings to be the new normal by 2030″. It supports accelerating decarbonization and enhancing resilience in the sector through international collaboration. Given the sector’s fragmented nature, a coordinated response from national governments is essential to steer the direction and pace of the transformation.

The Market Transformation Action Agenda and the Buildings Breakthrough strongly support each other in the implementation of actions so that the collaboration encompasses private sector and public sector stakeholders who drive progress towards a common goal.

 All the recordings and proceedings of the Buildings and Climate Global Forum will be published shortly on the Global Forum website.

We call on all stakeholders to join the Market Transformation Action Agenda because it’s not just about buildings; it’s about transforming our world. If we’re going to decarbonize, if we’re going to create resilience, if we’re going to create a world that’s fit for the future, we have to do it together.

– Peter Bakker, President and CEO, WBCSD.

The Market Transformation Agenda is extremely useful as it brings structure to the vast challenge to decarbonise the built environment. There are already many initiatives and lots of good work is happening across the industry. However, radical mission-led collaboration and transparency are key to identifying scalable solutions and accelerate progress. To achieve this, ULI C Change is pleased to be working with WCBSD on the Market Transformation Action Agenda as it aligns with our approach to mobilise our members and the wider industry to identify and propose actionable solutions for key barriers to decarbonisation.

– Lisette van Doorn, CEO Europe, Urban Land Institute.

What I like about the Market Transformation Action Agenda is that it proposes very concrete actions, over the coming 3 years, to achieve our long-term goals of decarbonizing the built environment. RICS will continue to pro-actively support this initiative, taking a leading role within the first lever, which focuses on consistency, transparency and data availability. Our Whole Carbon Assessment standard, published end 2023, provides a way to consistently measure both embodied and operational carbon. We look forward to working together with other key stakeholders to develop a set of common global principles that will enable consistent and transparent measurement of carbon.

– Justin Young, CEO RICS.

For more information, please contact Roland Hunziker, Director Built Environment, WBCSD