Evolving green building and energy codes impact the cost assessment and early schematic design of projects, which building owners and design teams must understand.  Sustainability feasibility studies are undertaken early in the construction document (CD) phase to effectively address sustainability goals and requirement ...

Sustainability is becoming an integral part of the suitability test of investments.  With the EU Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth, the EU has created binding rules for financial advisors.  It also underlines its ambitions in the fight against climate change and sets a clear signal for the reallocation of cap ...

There are several sustainable – "green" – building certifications schemes and great variation in how they are structured, evaluated, and weight social, environmental and economic dimensions.  For the definition of "sustainable building certification", this paper from 2019 gives the three dimensions equal weight.  Activ ...

It is suggested that standards and regulation of the construction of the supply chain would be less effective than the "ethical approach" and third-party monitoring.  At best, developers and construction companies make an ethical choice as regards sustainable procurement, for which the value for money (VfM) framework a ...

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) provide comprehensive sustainable development criteria along a property's value chain and whole-life cycle.  Since the real estate industry is chiefly responsible for the development and management of property, it must also lead the environmental stewardship of the built environment ...

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for companies to actively engage in the social, economic and environmental transformation process.  Business contribution to the SDGs requires integrating the SDGs into their core competitive strategy, organizational culture, and business model.  For this, companies must ...

The EU Taxonomy Delegated Act adopted on 9 December 2021 contains the technical screening criteria (“TSC”) for climate change adaptation and mitigation under the EU Taxonomy Regulation.  The TSC is key in the EU’s transition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and in guiding investment to environmentally sustainable e ...

Sustainability in the construction sector has increased in importance but is difficult to implement.  This paper provides an empirical investigation into the value of the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) for use as a framework for action to drive organizations towards sustainability in global construction supply ...

This paper analyzes the extent to which the EU real estate companies meet sustainable development goals (SDGs) while meeting stakeholders’ information needs.  Sustainability reports and annual reports were studied to highlight their prioritization of SDGs and the extent to which they are integrated in their business mo ...

Concepts that assess the sustainability of cities are only now emerging.  Assessments vary considerably depending upon the indicators, targets and methods.  Science can help in defining indicator frameworks, quantifying indicators, and developing the metrics and methods for evaluating progress.  The UN 2030 Agenda and ...

There is significant potential for the reduction of GHG emissions from accommodations while reducing the operating costs to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050.   This report focuses on abating direct and controllable emissions and presents a transition pathway with opportunities for accommodations to directly reduc ...

Standardization is needed to evaluate and validate net-zero commitments in the financial sector.  This is needed for financial institutions to drive the decarbonization of the real economy and stabilize temperatures at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.  The objective of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is t ...

The top 10 destinations are #1 Gothenburg, Sweden; #2 Copenhagen, Denmark; #3 Aarhus, Denmark; #4 Glasgow, UK; #5 Reykjavik, Iceland; #6 Tirol, Austria; #7 Lyon, France; #8 Zurich, Switzerland; #9 Bordeaux, France; and #10 Aalborg, Denmark.  The GDS-Index is a performance improvement program to make the leisure tourism ...

This thematic collection aims at creating a forum for encouraging and debating the design for sustainable development.  High-quality scientific contributions are needed to provide a coherent and widely accepted approach for designs that maximize the positive and minimize the negative environmental impacts while bringin ...

The private sector holds a pivotal position in achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, which requires funding and co-operation on an unprecedented scale.  This chapter addresses how international cooperation can help to put sustainable development at the core of business models and provides ...