UK Green Building Council

ENERGY & CARBON

Our built environment is vital in the fight against climate change. About 45% of CO2 emissions in the UK come from energy used in our homes and buildings. We need to almost completely decarbonise our built environment by 2050, through a combination of very high energy efficiency of buildings, on-site renewable energy, community scale renewables and decarbonisation of the grid.

This is a huge challenge, which will require a partnership between government, the private sector and consumers. Inevitably, questions have been asked about how realistic it is to both put the UK on a pathway to a low carbon economy at the same time as deal with the economic downturn. But we don’t have a choice – as Lord Stern has said: “We are facing two global crises, one economic and one planetary. We can act effectively and simultaneously on both fronts.”

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This broad category has been divided into subsections: existing homes, existing non-domestic buildings, new homes and new non-domestic buildings.

Close information.

Built environment contribution to UK greenhouse gas emissions

View our graph illustrating the contribution of the built environment to UK greenhouse gas emissions.

The graph gives a rough indication of the current greenhouse gas emissions from the UK built environment from 1990 to today and then indicates the challenge of achieving an 80% reduction by 2050.

Download the graph here.