Buildings equivalent to a city the size of Paris are being built every week ? but less than one per cent of them are assessed to determine their carbon footprint, according to a new report.
This is despite the fact that construction accounts for 38 per cent of global emissions.
As a result, the industry "doesn't know where it stands when it comes to carbon emissions," said Arup building engineering director Chris Carroll, who was one of the authors of the report published by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
The report used six buildings as case studies and found that the whole-life carbon footprint was around 1,800 kilogrammes of CO2 equivalent per square metre.
Half of all emissions are embodied in buildings, meaning they are caused by the manufacturing of materials and the construction process, according to the report. Seventy per cent of embodied emissions are caused by just six materials. The report does not identify which materials are the worst offenders but cement, which is a key ingredient in concrete, is responsible for an estimated eight per cent of all emissions.
Report calls on industry to adopt whole-life carbon assessments
Published today, the report comes after United Nations' climate champion Nigel Topping said architects are not doing enough to eliminate emissions from construction.
"Architecture is one of the least well-represented businesses" in the UN's Race to Zero campaign, Topping told Dezeen last week.

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