The construction of building and respectively the building sector word wide causes about 39% of the man-made emissions. About a quarter of this emission (≈11%) comes from the production of building materials.
In addition, about 50% of the global material consumption can be accounted to the global building sector, as well as 40% of the solid waste generated worldwide.
During construction, 10-15% of the building materials are wasted. Furthermore, more than half of the material from building demolition is landfilled due to toxicity or destruction as result of the demolition process.
While the building sector already experiences a scarcity of resources, it is expected that some of this material like zinc and chromium, which are used for roofing and other applications could be exhausted within the next 20 years. [2]
In the table below, you can see the estimated contribution to pollution for buildings on a global scale. [3]
| Estimated global pollution caused by buildings (in %) | |
| Air quality in cities | 23 |
| Greenhouse gases | 50 |
| Drinking water pollution | 40 |
| Landfill waste | 50 |
| Ozone depletion | 50 |
