How to slash buildings’ growing greenhouse gas emissions

 The view north to Rockefeller Center, Billionaires’ Row, Central Park, and One Vanderbilt as seen from the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building as the sun sets on December 15, 2020 in New York City. | Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

Carbon dioxide coming from the buildings where we live and work set a new record in 2019. What’s more, those planet-heating emissions will probably keep rising after the pandemic, the authors of a new UN report warn. The report urges governments to make structures more energy efficient and speed up a transition to renewable energy. Doing that could be a great way to address both the climate crisis and the economic downturn caused by COVID-19.

The building sector was responsible for a whopping 38 percent of carbon dioxide emissions globally in 2019, the report says. For comparison, all the planes, trains, automobiles, and other transportation in the world only pump out about 24 percent of global carbon emissions. Growing prosperity around...

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