Our understanding of construction's overall climate impact has changed over recent years, and it is now clear that a changed approach to climate-friendly construction is necessary. The operating energy of new buildings has been shown to be only a small part of the buildings' overall climate impact during their lifetime. In fact, the buildings' biggest emission comes from the embedded CO₂. That is from the emissions that occur during the extraction of resources, production of materials, transport and construction of the buildings. New calculations from the Norwegian Building Research Institute (SBI) and Aalborg University (AAU) have recently found that up to approx. 85% of the buildings' total climate impact can lie in the embedded CO₂. And international figures from UNEP from 2018 have established that as much as 11% of the world's total emissions originate from construction materials. So from the embedded CO₂.

These are figures that should lead to a regular paradigm shift in how we view construction's responsibility in the green transition. Energy efficiency will continue to be an important theme, but the understanding of how much the materials' embedded CO₂ fills the accounts, should be disseminated and used to change our approach to construction. Not just in relation to our approach to new construction, but just as much in relation to renovations.

Our ingrained understanding and focus on energy efficiency as the path to sustainable and climate-friendly buildings means that private and public builders still to this day demolish older but well-functioning healthy buildings, simply to build new so-called energy-efficient "sustainable" and tailor-made buildings. It is a challenge that should be addressed as soon as possible. Because the idea that only new buildings can be sustainable carries huge costs for the climate and thus for all of us.

Such a necessary changed practice in construction, which will promote an increased transformation and reuse of our existing building stock, requires us to bring the good examples of transformation and reuse of the aging building stock to light. That we get to analyze the motivations, thoughts, calculations and results behind the good examples that have already been implemented and that we get to present these in a representative collection that is inspiring, easily accessible and convincing.

The project aims to strengthen and qualify the debate on the transformation and reuse of buildings, both internally in the construction industry, but also among politicians and citizens. A debate that will enlighten and inspire the relevant parties, and thereby nuance our traditional approach to sustainable construction and understanding of the necessity of increased reuse of our buildings. A debate, nuance and increased knowledge that will not only create increased respect for our built heritage and focus on the green opportunities in increased reuse of our existing buildings, but also help to lift the responsibility of construction in the green transition.

Partners: Rambøll

Period: 2021-2022

Financing: The project is financed by GI and Realdania