Civil society groups push refurbishment over demolition to curb building emissions

Environmental group DUH, activist group Architects for Future, and the Anti-Demolition Alliance (AAA), itself a network of around 70 civil society organisations, have jointly called for an end to “the environmentally and climate-damaging demolition frenzy” they say is happening in Germany. The call came ahead of a conference on 10 and 11 September in Berlin, at which ministers from all 16 German states convene to discuss construction standards and regulation. The civil society groups called for changes to the country’s model building code, which sets the regulations in construction that serve as the basis for individual state building codes. The alliance wants the model building code to include a requirement for prior approval before any demolitions, on the basis that this helps to reduce emissions and to save resources needed for construction.During the two-day conference, ministers will discuss the necessary renovation of existing housing stock. According to official statistics, 12,000 buildings are demolished annually in Germany. However, the actual number is likely to be significantly higher, as not all building demolitions are recorded in statistics.“If you want to reconcile climate action, resource protection and affordable housing, you cannot ignore the existing building stock,” said DUH managing director Barbara Metz. Many buildings would still get teared down without a prior assessment whether preserving the construction offers a better solution, she argued.The NGO criticised that a demolition approval requirement was not put on the minister meeting’s agenda, despite the fact that Berlin’s ruling Social Democrats (SPD), which host this year’s conference, previously had called for such a rule. Shifting away from demolitions towards reusing existing buildings instead of building new ones could reduce global carbon emissions from building materials by 38 percent by 2050, thanks to reduced demand for new steel, aluminium, cement and plastic, a 2019 report found. Prolonging the lifetime of existing buildings also has the potential to reduce emissions by one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year beyond 2050. “Demolitions should only be permitted with a special exemption and proof of a positive overall emissions balance – including the embodied emissions that are to be eliminated,” said Corinna Tell from the AAA.The EU estimates that greenhouse gas emissions from material extraction, manufacturing of construction products, and the construction and renovation of buildings account for 5 to 12 percent of total member states' emissions. As a result, the bloc’s building stock has emerged as a key obstacle in reaching the EU’s goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

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