A brief explanation of Climate change and Sustainability - Carbon Emissions Data
Updated: Apr 7, 2022
Introduction
Climate change has been on the topics of agendas of political and industry leaders for the past 20 years with the aim of bringing general awareness to the public as well as promoting sustainable development in the form of policies and investment opportunities.
From a historical point of view, the first scientific concerns developed about the rising temperatures and the effects that climate change can have on our livelihood on earth were brought up in the 19th century when the greenhouse effect was first identified.
Excessive use of coal and burning fossil fuels because of the industrial revolution and the release of Greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has accelerated the destabilization of our atmosphere with the consequences of global temperatures rising in an uncontrolled way.
What is the DATA telling us?
Global average temperatures have increased by more than 1℃ since pre-industrial times
According to Our World in Data, 73.2 % of the global carbon dioxide equivalence (CO2e) was accounted for energy used in the industry which 17.5% was energy-related emissions from the generation of electricity and heat used in residential and commercial buildings.
Focusing on construction industry-specific, cement production accounted for a direct 3% and steel and iron production for 7.2% of the global emissions with energy-related emissions associated with the manufacturing of these products. In summary, the construction and manufacturing industries were responsible for 6.11 billion tCO2e, whereas the transport indirectly correlated with civil assets accounted for 7.7 billion tCO2e only second to Electricity & Heat-related emissions of 15 billion tCO2e as seen in Figures below.
Read more about Sustainability:
Designing buildings within Planetary Boundaries - 2050 Materials
Life cycle stages in Construction works as per BS EN 15978: 2011
