Keeping Up with the Pace of Green Building: Service Provision in a Highly Dynamic Sector

According to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Green Economy Report (2011), energy consumption of buildings in most of the industrialized countries accounts for around one-third of greenhouse gas emissions. The building sector also consumes more than a third of global resources and contributes by about 40 % to solid waste streams (mainly through demolition but also construction) in developed countries (UNEP 2011, p. 341). But while having been identified as the single largest contributor to human-related greenhouse gas emissions, the sector is also considered to hold the greatest potential to lower emissions based on the relatively low case of retrofitting existing or constructing new buildings (IPCC 2014). Following the realization of these potentials, the last years have witnessed the emergence of a green building agenda in many countries across the globe including technical and organizational innovations in the conception of single buildings (both residential and commercial) as well as enlarged approaches to the role and impact of the built environment in cities including neighbourhood and public infrastructures planning. The sector’s dynamic is partly caused and sustained by a high commitment of public authorities (e.g., via co-funding or tax exemption schemes) and seconded by the involvement of semi-public agencies (e.g., municipal building corporations, energy agencies, public housing services, vocational learning centres). Although the main focus is on low carbon objectives and energy efficiency, social objectives are also present mainly by acknowledging user interactions with their built environment around questions of health and quality of life.