Sustainable structures to foster climate change mitigation and transition towards carbon neutrality

Mission Statement/Objectives

Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide are the dominant cause of climate change according to IPCC. The built environment, being responsible for a major share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, plays a major role in the mitigation of climate change and in the transition towards climate neutrality. The main goal of this Task Group (TG) is to provide a framework for the assessment of GHG emissions of structures, in a life cycle perspective, and to promote the transition to a low-carbon built environment. Moreover, to promote the sustainability of civil engineering structures, the discussions in this TG will not be limited to GHG emissions but also include other relevant environmental impacts. Hence, this TG aims for technical discussions covering the following topics:

- Strategies to halt GHG emissions in the built environment, focussing on the design of low-carbon structures;

- Main barriers and opportunities towards climate neutrality and sustainable construction;

- Methodologies and tools for the life cycle assessment of construction works;

- Carbon/environmental footprint and benchmarking of civil engineering structures;

- New/advanced materials and structural systems with low embodied carbon;

- Review of standard and best “green practices” in the construction sector.

Scope & Limitation

- In this Task Group, construction works comprehends buildings, infrastructures and other civil engineering structures;

- The discussions in this group will take into account the complete life cycle of construction works from design to operation, to decommissioning;

- The technical discussions will be based on the reviews of methodologies, tools and standards for life cycle assessment, integrating environmental, economic and other aspects of sustainability;

- Life cycle analysis shall take into account uncertainties, in particular, due to the long-lasting period of time considered for construction works;

- A database will be developed to collect case studies of different types of structures, enabling to identify standards and best practices;

- Guidance and recommendations towards low-carbon design of structures and infrastructures.

Expected Project Output

SED book and a Seminar or Workshop based on the activities and outcome of the TG

Start Date: January 2025
Target Date of Completion: December 2027

Chair
Helena Gervasio, Portugal

Vice Chair
Kaveh Andisheh, New Zealand

Members

Mitsuyoshi Akiyama, Japan

Tânia Feiri, Germany

Vikram Pakrashi, Ireland

Numa Bertola, Luxemborg

Ramesh Nayaka, India

Julio Ortiz, New Zealand

Constança Rigueiro, Portugal