Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2025–2026: As climate risks rise and cities grow, we must rethink how we build to create better lives for all

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🔬研究者:Provides comprehensive global data and trends for buildings emissions, policy, and investment, useful for benchmarking and modeling.

🏢実務担当者:Offers insights into market trends, policy developments, and investment flows to guide corporate sustainability strategies and green building certifications.

🏛政策担当者:Serves as a critical reference for evaluating national building sector progress against global targets and identifying priority actions for NDCs and building energy codes.

Repost of original publication available at UNEP Knowledge Repository and via  GlobalABC Resources , including Key Messages.   Abstract The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction (Buildings-GSR), published by UNEP and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), provides an annual snapshot of the sector's progress globally. It reviews the status of policies, finance, technologies and solutions to monitor alignment with the Paris Agreement goals. The 2025/2026 edition — Building fast. Falling short — is the 10th edition of this flagship publication. It benchmarks progress through the Global Buildings Climate Tracker across emissions, building energy codes, renewable energy, green building certification, and investment in energy efficiency, covering climate resilience, housing affordability, and the 2050 Buildings Breakthrough and Déclaration de Chaillot. Despite a decade of progress, the sector remains off track, accounting for 37 per cent of global emissions and nearly 50 per cent of global material extraction, as decarbonisation stalls and construction outpaces climate action.   Table of contents Foreword Political statement Executive summary Introduction 1.1 The relevance of the buildings and construction sector 1.2 The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 1.3 Monitoring the buildings and construction sector 1.4 The progress observed between 2015-2024 Global trends in buildings and construction 2.1 An expanding global buildings and construction sector 2.2 The construction market and cost inflation 2.3 The buildings and construction sector and the growing housing affordability crisis Buildings and construction sector carbon emissions 3.1 New buildings and their embodied carbon emissions 3.2 Operational emissions from existing buildings 3.3 Towards 2030: reducing buildings’ operational emissions Buildings’ energy demand, efficiency and intensity 4.1 Buildings’ energy intensity 4.2 Towards 2030: faster reduction of buildings’ energy Buildings’ energy supply, renewable energy share and electrification 5.1 Share of renewable energy in buildings 5.2 Towards 2030: increasing the share of renewables in buildings Policies for or a climate-resilient buildings and construction sector 6.1 NDCs with an extensive strategy for the buildings and construction sector 6.2 Towards 2030: getting NDCs to include extensive strategies for the buildings and construction sector 6.3 Other national policies for decarbonisation and adaptation of the buildings and construction sector Building energy codes around the world 7.1 Building energy codes aligned with zero-emissions principles 7.2 Towards 2030: deploying ZEB-aligned building energy codes Green building certification around the world 8.1 Growth in green building certification 8.2 Towards 2030: leveraging the potential of green building certification Investment in sustainable and resilient buildings 9.1 Investment in buildings’ energy efficiency and decarbonisation 9.2 Towards 2030: scaling-up investment in buildings’ energy efficiency Future-proofing the buildings sector: monitoring resilience and adaptation risks 10.1 Adaptation and resilience in buildings and construction 10.2 A framework for different adaptation and resilience domains Roadmaps to drive transformation: from strategy to implementation 11.1 Regional and national roadmaps for buildings and construction following the GlobalABC methodology 11.2 Other green building roadmap initiatives around the world Priority actions: accelerating the observed progress   Building on a strong foundation: scaling up the GSRBC   References Annex: Global Buildings Climate Tracker methodology   Authors The 2025–2026 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction was prepared by the lead coordinating authors including Prof. Ian Hamilton, Dr. Harry Kennard, Dr. Shih-Che Hsu, Lucien Hua, Merve Yılmaz, from Building Insights, and Oliver Rapf, Dr. Jerson Amorocho, Dr. Sriraj Gokarakonda, Ana Nanu, and Larissa Milo-Dale from Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), and chapter, sections and deep dives authors including Dr. Judit Kockat, Dr. Sibyl Steuwer, Emily Bankert, and Lisa Graaf from BPIE, Sean Lockie, Orlando Gibbons, and Matthew Munro from Arup, Dr. Martin Röck from Institute for Regenerative Spatial System Science (RISE), and Dr. Clara Camarasa at UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP CCC). The report was designed by 89up. The report was edited by Chloé Farand. Support was provided by Hongpeng Lei, Gulnara Roll, Jonathan Duwyn, Hanane Hafraoui, Sophie Loran, Sajni Niki Shah, Konish Naidu, Nyasha Harper-Michon, Dima Khoury, Keishamaza Rukikaire, Tal Harris, and Moses Osani from the UNEP / Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC). This report was made possible through support from UNEP, Assemble Alliance and research funding provided by ADEME, France and DESNZ, United Kingdom. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the following members and partners who supported this report with their important contributions, input, comments and reviews: Lana Isam AbuQulbain, Technical Engineer, Emirates Green Building Council Hannah Audino, Energy Transitions Commission, Systemiq Paula Baptista, German Energy Agency (dena) Katie Beaulieu, Natural Resources Canada Teresa Coady, FRAIC, LEED Fellow, AAIA Dr.-Ing. Mira Conci, EIT Climate KIC Dr. Essam Elnagar, Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) Victoria Falcone, World Business Council for Sustainable Development Li Fen, Chief Engineer, Shenzhen Institute of Building Research Co., Ltd. Lori Ferriss, Climate Heritage Network, Built Buildings Lab Mina Hasman, Commonwealth Association for Architects | SOM Prof. Shan Hu, Tsinghua University Dr. Silke Krawietz, SETA Network / SETA Design Dr. York Ostermeyer, Stichting CUES / University College London (UCL) Dr. Carolina Owen, World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) Dr. Alicia Regodon Puyalto, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Julie Robles, Global Green Growth Institute Prof. Da Yan, Tsinghua University Dr. Derek Sarfo-Yiadom, Environmental Protection Authority, Ghana Suggested citation United Nations Environment Programme (2026). "Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2025–2026: As climate risks rise and cities grow, we must rethink how we build to create better lives for all." Paris, 2026. DOI: https://doi.org//10.59117/20.500.11822/49531   © 2026 United Nations Environment Programme ISBN: 978-92-807-4283-1 Job number: CLI/2765/PA DOI: https://doi.org//10.59117/20.500.11822/49531 URI: https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/49531

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