Green construction tech investments registered a record $2.2 billion in 2022 as demand for low-carbon buildings surged.
According to a research titled ‘The Future of Building in a Low Carbon World’ published by venture capital firm PropTech, total low-carbon green construction tech investments tallied $4.5 billion over the past five years, executing an annual growth rate of 84%.
The report found that half of the top ten cities were in Europe, where London stood at the top on the list to invest in green construction tech, mainly designed to decarbonise the built world.
According to the research, embodied carbon is anticipated to account for half of the total carbon emissions from the built environment by 2035.
Despite rising retrofit, surging global population and urbanisation are set to increase real estate footprint by 76-230 billion square metres worldwide by 2050.
Gregory Dewerpe, founder and chief investment officer at A/O Proptech, said: “The built environment is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions, and there is a growing recognition that we need to tackle this problem urgently.”
Environment efficient technologies to “lower emissions during construction process ranging from “design software, to more sustainable building materials to technologies that speed up and accelerate construction” are essential to limit emissions, Dewerpe said.
The report implied that green building practices are gaining popularity, and European regulations for reducing embodied carbon are set to “tighten” over time.
However, the regulatory framework in Europe varies significantly. For example, France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland are more advanced than the UK in their regulatory frameworks.
France requires half of the public buildings’ construction to be bio-based by 2030. To achieve this target, France must have 25% of its materials to be bio-based by 2025.
The report said that bio-based materials are crucial for greener construction. In several markets, “fast-growing materials with high yields – such as bamboo, straw, and hemp – have significant potential to satisfy a large component of future construction demand”.
Low-carbon cement solutions are also vital for greener construction, as 60% of cement manufacturing emissions are caused by “traditional cement chemical reactions”, the researchers noted.
© 2022 funds europe
