Construction Value Chain Consultations
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Construction sector was the focus of the second set of consultations series concentrating on innovative business and policy solutions, which was undertaken in July 2021 in the form of 3 expert workshops, each focusing on the key findings from the construction value-chain analysis.
To initiate the consultations, One Planet network also hosted the webinar “If you build it: How governments, financing and territorial planning influence the construction value chain”.
The objective of this series of consultations was to understand what initiatives and solutions currently exist at different stages of the construction value chain and to define gaps, opportunities, interlinkages, and trade-offs as the basis for the development of prioritised objectives for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP).
Click on each of the workshops to learn more:
Purchasing power: How public procurement exerts influence throughout the Construction value chain - 1st of July 2021
Follow the investments: How financing shapes the Construction value chain - 8th of July 2021
How planning and design frame action along the Construction value chain - 16th of July 2021
Background
Strengthening the science-policy interface by adopting the value-chain approach to prioritise action is one of the key pillars in strengthening multilateral cooperation on Sustainable Consumption and Production.
The value-chain approach is a methodology for science-based policy action on sustainable consumption and production. Its purpose is to identify key points of intervention within economic systems to reduce natural-resource use and environmental impacts caused by production and consumption, and to define a common agenda for action.
Critically, the value-chain approach goes beyond an understanding of where resource use and environmental impacts occur, to understand why this is happening and what the key points of intervention are for science-based policy action.
Building on the findings of the joint task group of the International Resource Panel and the One Planet network presented in the report “Catalysing science-based policy action on sustainable consumption and production: the value-chain approach and its application to food, construction and textiles”, the next step is to collaboratively define a common agenda for action by continuing the application of the value-chain approach in the high-impact sectors of food, construction and plastics and thereby ensuring its scientific foundation.
While these sectors are prioritised based on UNEA 4 resolution and One Planet recommendations to the High-Level Political Forum, the future discussions will also consider how best to extend the uptake of the value-chain approach to other key sectors.
Key Messages
The workshops were structured according to the two main messages below, which highlighted the role of public procurement, planning and design, and financing.
Message 1: Key decisions are made far from where natural resources are used
The majority of natural resource use and environmental impacts along the construction value chain take place at the material extraction and production stage, the construction stage and the use stage. However, the systems analysis highlights that there is limited scope at these stages of the value chains to make changes to reduce natural resource use and environmental impacts for a number of reasons, including the informality, fragmentation, complexity at these stages, as well as limitations in knowledge, awareness and available options.
In contrast, the systems analysis demonstrates that the most influential actors along the construction value chain are governments, international organisations, financial institutions and major market players, who are primarily acting at the financing stage and the planning and design stage of the construction value chain. The key decisions made at these stages largely determine what types of constructions are built, how many constructions are built, and how constructions are built, and thereby shape the activity along the rest of the value chain.
Message 2: Governments exert significant influence along construction value chain
Compared to other sectors, the role of governments and multilateral organisations in shaping activity along the construction value chain is significant, and occurs in three key ways:
Strengthening the science-policy interface by adopting the value-chain approach to prioritise action is one of the key pillars in strengthening multilateral cooperation on Sustainable Consumption and Production.
The value-chain approach is a methodology for science-based policy action on sustainable consumption and production. Its purpose is to identify key points of intervention within economic systems to reduce natural-resource use and environmental impacts caused by production and consumption, and to define a common agenda for action.
Critically, the value-chain approach goes beyond an understanding of where resource use and environmental impacts occur, to understand why this is happening and what the key points of intervention are for science-based policy action.
Building on the findings of the joint task group of the International Resource Panel and the One Planet network presented in the report “Catalysing science-based policy action on sustainable consumption and production: the value-chain approach and its application to food, construction and textiles”, the next step is to collaboratively define a common agenda for action by continuing the application of the value-chain approach in the high-impact sectors of food, construction and plastics and thereby ensuring its scientific foundation.
While these sectors are prioritised based on UNEA 4 resolution and One Planet recommendations to the High-Level Political Forum, the future discussions will also consider how best to extend the uptake of the value-chain approach to other key sectors.
Key Messages
The workshops were structured according to the two main messages below, which highlighted the role of public procurement, planning and design, and financing.
Message 1: Key decisions are made far from where natural resources are used
The majority of natural resource use and environmental impacts along the construction value chain take place at the material extraction and production stage, the construction stage and the use stage. However, the systems analysis highlights that there is limited scope at these stages of the value chains to make changes to reduce natural resource use and environmental impacts for a number of reasons, including the informality, fragmentation, complexity at these stages, as well as limitations in knowledge, awareness and available options.
In contrast, the systems analysis demonstrates that the most influential actors along the construction value chain are governments, international organisations, financial institutions and major market players, who are primarily acting at the financing stage and the planning and design stage of the construction value chain. The key decisions made at these stages largely determine what types of constructions are built, how many constructions are built, and how constructions are built, and thereby shape the activity along the rest of the value chain.
Message 2: Governments exert significant influence along construction value chain
Compared to other sectors, the role of governments and multilateral organisations in shaping activity along the construction value chain is significant, and occurs in three key ways:
- As regulators of financial markets, the banking system, and tax systems, governments influence how much and what type of constructions are built, especially for housing, particularly at the financing stage and property market stage of the construction value chain.
- As investors in the construction sector through the public procurement of buildings and infrastructure, governments can directly influence what is being built, how much is being built and how constructions are being built through the procurement criteria they apply and the vendors they choose to engage.
- As urban and territorial planners, and regulators of the construction sector, governments also indirectly determine what is being built, how much is being built and how constructions are being. How governments regulate the construction sector through tools such as building codes and zoning laws can influence the operations of actors along the construction value chain, especially at the planning and design stages; the construction material stages; the construction stages; and, as a result, the use stage.
Governments therefore have a strong opportunity to reduce the natural resource use and environmental impacts of the construction sector through using these three key levers to drive resource efficiency in the sector and ensure construction activity is directed towards meeting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
