Last week we hit Earth Overshoot Day, which again this year is a terrifying reminder that we use far more resources than the earth can regenerate in a year. 

A significant part of the responsibility for our overuse of the earth's resources lies with the construction sector, which consumes half of the total materials that are extracted on a global scale. Construction accounts for around 30 percent of the total Danish climate footprint and 40 percent of the total global CO2 emissions. The consumption of construction materials such as steel and concrete alone accounts for 11 percent of the total global CO2 emissions.

If we, if we are to get our hopes up, that the marking of Earth Overshoot Day in the coming years will fall much later in the year - and in the best case not occur at all - it is necessary to look carefully at the construction and get the sector hugely up to speed when it comes to less resource consumption and circular conversion. 

That's the talk

If you take the status of the Danish construction industry today, we are, however, far from a scenario where the circular transformation has really gained momentum.

The debate about circular construction has been going on for many years, but until now it has largely remained talk, and the realization of circular construction in our country has continued to be characterized by isolated prestige projects.

An example: Figures from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency show that five million tonnes of construction and construction waste are produced in Denmark per year, but that today only 36 per cent of that is recycled. 

The circular market has not yet been established on a larger scale, circular partnerships and business models are few and far between, and demand is also lagging behind. In other words, it is far from fast enough. 

The arrow points to the politicians

Right now, the arrow points to a lack of political action as the biggest barrier to speeding up construction's circular transformation. That today there are simply not the necessary framework conditions and regulations in place that set the right requirements or create the right incentives that can make the industry go in the circular direction. 

Two years ago we got a so-called 'Strategy for sustainable construction', and from this year we also got limit values ​​in the new building regulations, which set requirements for the CO2 emissions of materials in new construction. These are important steps on the way, but they are far from ambitious or effective enough. The strategy for sustainable construction is far from being implemented, and the new climate requirements in the building regulations are in no way high enough to promote circularity and for construction to deliver on the climate targets. We also have the prospect of a CO2 tax, but it is not high enough to drive a real circular transformation, and the major climate emitters specifically within construction are excluded.

We also have the benefit of seeing the 'Strategy for Green Procurement', which came back in 2019, manifest itself in real circular tender requirements on the huge projects that public authorities are building.  

Scale up the political effort

There is therefore a need to massively scale up the political effort when it comes to creating the necessary framework conditions and incentives that can pave the way for a circular restructuring of the construction industry.

A CO2 tax is needed that is more ambitious and covers the entire construction industry. There is a need to focus on the development of circular value chains.

There is a need to tighten the climate requirements in the building regulations so that they actually promote circular choices in the industry. And finally, it is absolutely crucial that the public procurement muscle comes into play to drive the demand for circular construction.

The alternative is that for the next several years we will continue to talk about the importance of less resource consumption, while we toast the inauguration of individual circular prestige construction projects, while year after year we will continue to have confirmation of our and construction's overconsumption with Earth Overshoot Day.

The debate entry was written by Anna Fenger Schefte and was also brought to the Alting on 10 August 2023.