Safe, secure and sustainable housing is crucial for meeting the basic needs of societies. However, buildings and their construction are responsible for 39% of global CO2 emissions (28% for operational emissions e.g. heating and hot water provision and 11% of embodied emissions in materials, construction processes and waste). Urbanisation and rising urban sprawl add to the environmental challenges, with increasing negative consequences for biodiversity and consequential emissions from land-use change.

There is huge untapped potential for emissions reduction in housing. From legacy fossil fuel based assets, electricity demand of home appliances and devices, and in the design, construction and demolition of buildings which in general remain virgin material intensive with poor levels of end-of-life recycling and material reuse. 

In light of this, ES4S considers the top priorities for the sustainability shelter as: proliferation of - and regeneration to - energy efficient and low-carbon buildings, residential energy onsumption (including a sustainable fuel mix), the lifecycle of buildings (durability), resource intensity (circularity by design), and ‘green’ design.