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• Construction materials can achieve gigaton scale by 2020 for an investment of $445 billion, creating 328 thousand direct new jobs, and enhancing energy security by reducing energy use.
• Multiple gigaton-scale pathways exist in the construction materials sector; the biggest single opportunity for CO₂e reduction is low-carbon cement.
• No single country's building sector can achieve gigaton scale alone, with the possible exception of China if that country shifted to low-carbon cement production.
• Jobs and investment numbers based on transformation of the cement industry.
• Green building materials are the fastest-growing sector in the building materials category.

The global construction sector presents a tremendous opportunity for carbon emissions reduction, sustainable growth, and innovation. The combined construction and manufacturing sectors accounted for an estimated 17% of total global emissions in 2005, or approximately 9 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions. Construction intensity is predicted to increase more than 5% globally during the next several years, largely from activity in China and India.

The manufacture of building materials and components accounts for between 40% and 50% of the total global flow of raw materials. Given emissions proportional to raw materials processed, this implies 4 to 4.5 gigatons of CO₂e directly from the construction industry in 2005, increasing at roughly 2.5% per year.

The construction materials sector is baroque, in need of modernization. Concrete is a perfect example. This most commonly used material got its last update in the late 1800s. The industry - which has been the subject of media attention and alone emits more than 2 gigatons of CO₂e per annum - is under pressure to change. Other areas of the trade have equal (if not as large) potential for improvement.

There are a number of pathways to substantial CO₂e reductions in the construction materials sector. Below are five that have the potential to reach gigaton scale. The first three focus on commonly used construction materials, and the last two target construction industry practices:

1. Concrete
2. Wood products
3. Ceramics and glass
4. Whole-building design
5. Salvage

A strategy that targets one of two ubiquitous building materials (concrete or wood) could achieve the gigaton goal. Eliminating 1 gigaton of CO₂e through the concrete sector would require that 50% of portland cement production used in concrete - roughly 2,000 megatons of production - be low carbon by 2020. The wood strategy entails substitution of wood for higher-embodied-carbon materials in structural applications and, at the same time, replacing wood with lower-carbon materials in other applications. Engineered wood is also part of the solution here. The ceramics and glass strategy includes changes in raw materials as well as furnace size, fuel, and other production process elements. A whole-building design approach would target carbon reductions in a range of common building materials, including flooring, siding, roofing, and concrete. The salvage approach focuses on resource recovery and avoidance of new emissions through reuse of previously used materials.

Product innovation (development of low-carbon materials) and conservation-minded design are essential in the new age of building materials. New materials under development include bio-composites, such as polymers grown by microorganisms, and products fashioned out of waste streams (recycled materials). Conservation-minded designs use products with recycled content such as cellulose (recycled newsprint) or cotton (recycled blue jean) insulation as well as salvage materials.