Our industry puts a lot of energy into building better: reducing the emissions from the buildings we operate and the materials we use. We’ve made real progress.

But our emissions equation has two components: how well we build and how much we build. By focusing solely on the former, we are leaving half of the solution on the table.

Consumption matters. Sufficiency – avoiding the demand for energy, materials, land, water, and other natural resources while delivering well-being for all within planetary boundaries – is a critical missing tool in our decarbonization toolkit. We cannot achieve our carbon reduction goals without building less.

How we measure matters

The standard practice of reporting building sector operating emissions intensity metrics by the square foot sums up the problem in a nutshell. We can halve the emissions per area, but if we build twice as much, we’ve cannibalized those gains with growth. We must look at total emissions, not just the emissions intensity.

The most recent Global Status Report on Buildings and Construction brings this dilemma into sharp focus. Despite significant efficiency gains, the buildings sector has continued to grow its overall emissions. Why? Because we are building more. Additionally, any operating carbon decreases are more than offset by upfront carbon increases.

What really matters? Emissions per person: meeting human need while staying within our carbon budget. Looking at emissions this way also addresses equity concerns in a world where over-consumption by the wealthy few disproportionately drives climate change.

Sufficiency in action

Some sufficiency strategies are already in our lexicon: building reuse, circularity, universal design and adaptability. To these, we must add strategies that address underlying consumption patterns: design efficiency, dematerialization, carbon rationing, building less.

For the buildings industry to use less stuff, we need to change both policies and behaviors. A robust sufficiency policy toolkit includes things like progressive taxation, land use regulations, support for reuse of existing buildings and materials, whole life LCA requirements, and carbon budgeting. Behavioral changes include changing norms for thermal comfort, resetting consumption expectations, and relying on passive vs. mechanical solutions.