Guest editorial: Building performance and sustainable infrastructure: unsustainable return to practice

Abstract

Unsustainable return to practiceThe abrupt decline in global carbon emissions experienced during the pandemic was not sustainable. Overwhelmingly, this is evidenced by the advanced economies' swift return to close to pre-pandemic levels and, of greater concern, the total global use of fossil fuels has rebounded to their highest level in history (IEA, 2021;Jackson et al., 2022). Unfortunately, post-pandemic, the anthropic life threating activities have resumed.Although the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) galvanised a global response with Net Zero pledges, the United Nations implementation data presents a sobering picture (UN, 2022). The impact data report reveals that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is in grave danger (UN, 2022). Many of the sectors in the major economies remain outdated and carbon intensive, with initial commitments not matched by action (Marteau et al., 2021; UN Environment Programme, 2020). The construction industry in this regard, being responsible for 37% of global emissions, carries a considerable share of the burden (Hamilton et al., 2021). A radical transformation is required to decarbonise the sector and buildings (Murtagh et al., 2023). The UK's Net Zero Strategy -"Build Back Greener" (HM Government, 2021), which sets out the polices and proposals for 2050 decarbonisation seeks to address the transition required from the major economic sectors. However, in a recent High Court legal challenge from environmental groups it was held that the Strategy provided insufficient information on how the carbon budgets would be met (Friends of the Earth Ltd., Client Earth, Good Law Project and Janna Wheatly and Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, 2022). Although early decarbonation of sections of energy supply show progress, other sectors present a sizeable hurdle. This is especially so in the construction sector, which is not maintaining pace towards Net Zero (Hamilton et al., 2021). The Royal Academy of Engineering notes that much more needs to be done (Mitchell et al., 2021). The Academy calls for better design and specification, major developments in construction and reuse of buildings and materials, as well as significant changes to procurement if the sector is to achieve Net Zero by 2050.The research reported in this special issue of the International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, which focusses on building performance and infrastructure, affirms just how wide and varied the challenge is and how critical research is to the solution.Here, even where research is advancing, there are still knowledge gaps.The contributing academic papers clearly identify transformational challenges both with current practice, existing methodologies and measurement tools. Bruce-Konuah et al. (2023) found that all domestic building occupants in their study of heating behaviour manually override their heating system, undermining the use of the thermostat set point. Agyekum et al. (2023) showed that even when buildings were sustainably certified using ...

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