The global buildings sector is becoming more energy efficient and attracting record levels of investment, but progress remains far too slow to keep climate goals within reach, according to one of the authors of the latest Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction.

"There has been measurable progress in energy intensity, renewable energy use, efficiency investments and green building certification, but the pace of transformation is still far too slow to meet the Paris Agreement goals," Merve Yilmaz, one of the report's authors, told Anadolu.

Published by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction, the report found that buildings and construction still account for around 37% of global carbon dioxide emissions and nearly half of all material extraction worldwide.

According to the report, an average of 12.7 million square meters (136.7 million square feet) of new floor space is added every day globally – equivalent to building the entire city of Paris every week.

"The report shows that global floor space expanded by around 20% since 2015, while energy demand increased by 11% and operational emissions by 6.5%," Yilmaz said.

"Efficiency measures are working, but construction and urban expansion are happening even faster."

Global building floor area grew by a further 1.7% in 2024, reaching 273 billion square meters (2.94 trillion square feet), while operational emissions rose 1% to 9.9 gigatons of CO2 equivalent.

Since 2015, however, building energy intensity has fallen by 8.5%, renewable energy sources supplied 17.3% of building energy demand in 2024 and green building certifications have nearly tripled.

"The problem is not that efficiency policies failed. It is that they have not yet been implemented at the speed and scale needed to offset massive global construction growth," Yilmaz said.

She noted that more than three-quarters of global floor space is residential and that housing accounts for around 70% of building energy demand, making housing policy central to climate action.

Investment gap remains enormous

The report also highlights the scale of investment needed to put the sector on a net-zero pathway.

Energy efficiency investments in buildings reached $275 billion in 2024, bringing total investment since 2015 to $2.3 trillion.

Yet that remains far below what is needed.

According to the report, investment in building efficiency will need to increase dramatically, reaching $5.9 trillion by 2030.

The share of renewable energy in buildings' final energy demand must also climb from 17.3% to 46% within the same period to align with net-zero goals by 2050.

Yilmaz said one of the biggest obstacles remains the slow pace of renovation.

“Millions of inefficient buildings remain in use because retrofits require upfront investment, technical capacity and stronger regulation," she said.

She also pointed to the continued dominance of fossil fuels in heating, cooling and cooking systems, adding that governments often provide direct or indirect support for those fuels while building-sector policies remain weaker than those targeting electricity generation or transportation.

Housing, resilience and climate adaptation

Yilmaz argued that governments should prioritize passive design, compact urban planning, rooftop solar, energy-efficient social housing and circular construction practices that reuse existing materials and buildings.

She said climate policies in the building sector can simultaneously reduce emissions, lower energy bills and strengthen resilience to increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

Investments in energy-efficient social housing, solar panels and retrofitting low-income housing can deliver climate and social benefits at the same time, she said.

The report warns that poorly insulated homes leave low-income households especially vulnerable to both rising energy costs and climate-related disasters, as floods, storms, wildfires and heatwaves place growing pressure on housing and urban infrastructure around the world.

Yilmaz noted that Türkiye has taken important steps under its 2053 net-zero target, including updated mandatory building energy codes, expanding renewable energy investments and growing awareness of sustainable construction.

The report calls for urgent action on building codes, renovation programs, renewable energy deployment, fossil fuel phaseout policies and climate resilience planning.

Without faster action, she warned, the sector risks becoming an even larger driver of the global climate crisis.