Need for action

Construction is a huge and still unresolved climate challenge – both here in Denmark, in the EU and globally. 50 percent of the materials we extract globally today go into construction, and construction accounts for around 30 percent of the total Danish climate footprint and 40 percent of the total global CO2-emissions. The consumption of building materials such as steel and concrete alone accounts for a full 11 percent of the total global CO2discharge.

The transition to a more circular construction industry is one of the absolutely necessary answers to this challenge – and a crucial lever for achieving substantial reductions in the climate footprint of construction. Several analyses and studies have documented in recent years that there is great climate reduction potential in construction becoming more circular. Among other things, one analysis points out from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation that only the transition to a more circular economy could pave the way for global CO2-reductions from construction by as much as 38 percent in 20509 – especially by reducing demand for cement, steel, aluminum and plastic.

Therefore, with climate glasses on, it is a given that the industry – both domestically, in the EU and globally – must adapt to thinking and acting circularly and to using far fewer virgin materials and, in turn, recycling far more materials than today.

If we take stock of the Danish construction industry today, we are far from a scenario where circularity has truly broken through. The debate about circular construction has been going on for many years, but until now it has largely remained a matter of talk, and the realization of circular construction in Denmark has continued to be a matter of individual prestige projects. An example: Figures from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency show that 5 million tons of construction and demolition waste are produced in Denmark per year, but that today only 36 percent of that is recycled.

The analysis across the construction value chain is that there is still a lack of clear incentives, requirements and frameworks that can help to seriously scale circular business models and products in the industry.

Therefore, a much more ambitious and comprehensive political effort is needed if the transition to more circular construction is to be realized – and if the climate footprint from our construction is to be reduced at the pace and extent that our climate ambitions dictate.

It is not only important for the climate and for us to reach our reduction goals, but also important for future-proofing a construction industry that must operate in a European and global market where demand for resources is increasing, where European legislation is tightening, and where companies that deliver circular solutions are increasingly rewarded.

Read the in-depth report here .

THE INDUSTRY IS NOT ON THE RIGHT CLIMATE TRACK

The UN’s 2022 Annual Status Report on the Construction Sector concludes that “the construction sector is not on track to achieve decarbonization by 2050. And the gap between the sector’s actual climate performance and the decarbonization path is widening.” The report directly points to a lack of focus on the climate footprint of materials as one of the primary reasons why construction is not on track. “Despite its massive contribution to global CO2 emissions, embedded CO2 has so far been under-prioritized in strategies targeting reductions in the construction sector,” the report states.

Here too, the industry is far from being on the right climate track. If new construction in Denmark is to stay within the Paris Agreement, emissions must be reduced to 0,4 kg CO2 per m2 per year by 2036. If you look at the average climate footprint of a Danish building, it is currently 9,6 kg CO2 per m² per year over a 50-year period. With the legislation that has been put in place so far with life cycle calculations and limit values ​​in the new building regulations, large new buildings must not exceed 12 kg CO2 per m2 per year. This limit will be reduced over the coming years, and in 2029, as planned today, it will be 7,5 kg CO2 per m2 per year. So still far from the necessary limit values.

Ambitious regulation needed

RGO believes that the following 10 political initiatives are crucial if the Danish construction industry's transition to more circular and resource-friendly construction is to be realized. Politicians must:

1. Introduce a high and uniform CO2 tax that includes all actors in the construction industry. It should ideally be DKK 1500/ton, as recommended by the Climate Council. Producers of building materials should not receive a discount, as was otherwise agreed with the green tax reform from 2022, but should pay at least DKK 1125/ton and ideally up to DKK 1500/ton, so that the tax reflects the climate impact

2. The entire legislative area relating to construction must be made circular. This applies, for example, to planning legislation, waste regulation and other parts of the building regulations that go beyond the current requirements in the building regulations for life cycle analyses and embedded CO2. This will initially require a comprehensive mapping that uncovers both potentials, but also barriers in current legislation in relation to promoting more circular construction. This also applies to other requirements such as the building regulations, which potentially pave the way for more circularity.

3. Introduce new procurement rules that promote a much greater focus on circularity in the construction industry, for example by allowing public tenders to follow the circular framework and requirements laid down in the EU's taxonomy for sustainable investments.

4. Put the focus on the entire building stock – and not just new construction – in relation to both requirements for embedded CO2 and circular requirements in order to thereby also promote the preservation and transformation of the existing building stock. It is far preferable to new construction from a climate perspective.

5. Ensure faster implementation of higher requirements for the embedded CO2 in the building regulations. The current political agreement, which is for phasing in requirements for CO2 per m2 per year is not ambitious enough in relation to paving the way for the climate reductions that construction must deliver, and in relation to the climate footprint that construction has today.

6. Adopt a minimum requirement in relation to resource mapping of the existing building mass during demolition and renovation. This could be done by expanding the statutory environmental mapping during demolition to also include a statutory resource mapping, which uncovers the circular potential of a building. It may be necessary that the requirement for a resource mapping only applies to buildings of a certain size. It is important that requirements for resource mapping are seen in the context of the upcoming rules for selective demolition.

7. Paving the way for a stronger commercialization of the market for circular materials. This can be done with the following initiatives: promoting common and transparent access to data about the materials, introducing requirements for material passports and expanding this to also include recycled materials, as well as taking measures that can minimize risks in connection with the use of recycled materials in construction. In addition, new requirements are needed for the content of building materials, so that we can avoid the use of harmful chemicals in our buildings.

8. Increase support for new circular actors and circular value chains. There is currently a lack of companies in the circular value chain. Here, there is a particular need for testing facilities in relation to analysis and data on specific recycled materials and upcycling centers that can ensure reuse and high-value recycling of building materials. It will also be necessary to look at promoting the development of symbioses and industrial partnerships across the construction industry and other sectors with a view to promoting circularity. This could, for example, be symbioses between agriculture and construction on new circular material flows in relation to the production of biogenic building materials.

9. Integrate construction into an overall strategic plan for Denmark's consumption of raw materials and resources. There is a need for a unified and long-term strategy for raw materials, resources and circular economy to be drawn up from a political perspective. Politically, for many years the focus has primarily been on energy in the green transition. And the little effort that has been made in relation to circularity is largely limited to waste management. There is a need to increase the political focus on reducing our resource consumption – both as a contribution to a smaller climate footprint, but also to ensure our security of supply.

10. Work for an ambitious EU policy in the area. A lot is happening these years at European level in relation to regulation of construction, which can promote circularity and reductions in embedded CO2. The EU's measures will undoubtedly set the direction and determine the pace of climate change in construction for many years to come. It is therefore important that Danish politicians and authorities work to ensure that EU legislation in the area becomes ambitious enough to move the construction industry so that it does not affect the climate, the environment and our resources.

Green Transition Denmark is an independent non-profit environmental organization that has advised on the green transformation for more than three decades. Like a green solution tank we will deliver concrete, realizable and ambitious solutions that can accelerate the transition to an absolutely sustainable society.