2026 Sustainable Construction Barometer
Now in its fourth edition, the Sustainable Construction Barometer developed by Saint-Gobain’s Sustainable Construction Observatory and conducted by Occurrence-IFOP, provides a global snapshot of how sustainable construction is understood, perceived, and implemented.
Covering 30 countries and bringing together both stakeholders and citizens, the 2026 edition highlights regional disparities, emerging priorities, and the key levers to accelerate the sector’s transformation.
Key figures
Stakeholders
4,800
Citizens
30,000
Countries
30
5 KEY TAKEAWAYS
#1 Sustainable construction: now an established concept, but unevenly adopted.
Sustainable construction is now a widely recognized concept. 67% of stakeholders and 39% of citizens say they understand exactly what the concept is all about; 94% and 84% respectively are at least aware of it.
However, this widespread recognition coexists with significant variations across regions and countries. Stakeholder awareness remains lower in Asia-Pacific (58%) than in the Middle East (75%), and there are sometimes considerable differences within the same region: in Europe, the gap between Romania (86%) and Czech Republic (40%) illustrates the difference in maturity between countries in the same area. Among citizens, familiarity with the concept remains socially differentiated, and is higher among young people and university graduates.
Sustainable construction is thus emerging as a common framework, while its adoption is progressing at different speeds across regions and profiles.
#2 Resilience gaining ground, benefits to be better highlighted to keep up the momentum.
Among the criteria cited to define sustainable construction, resilience continues to gain ground. After a sharp increase in the previous edition (up 8 points between 2024 and 2025), it gained another 5 points this year among both stakeholders and citizens, with a particularly strong importance in Africa and the Middle East, regions already exposed to extreme climates.
Interviews with financial stakeholders highlight the growing attention paid to resilience, while also emphasizing the need to clarify its definition and demonstrate a clear return on investment.
#3 The value of sustainable construction: a central issue.
Beyond knowledge of sustainable construction, the question of its value proves decisive. 47% of stakeholders believe that sustainable construction creates more value than traditional construction (a new question in 2026). This perception is weaker in some regions (38% in Asia-Pacific, 45% in Europe) and among elected officials, with only 34% saying they are convinced.
The competitiveness of solutions remains perceived as a crucial driver for fast-tracking sustainable construction: as in the previous edition, it is cited by nearly one in three stakeholders. Furthermore, respondents in favor of “going backwards” on sustainable construction (a minority opinion, representing only 6% of stakeholders) mainly cite excessive costs and a lack of performance guarantees for users.
It’s no longer just a question of asserting the ambitions of sustainable construction. There is a need to show its value: demonstrating tangible benefits, guaranteeing performance for users, and substantiating the competitiveness of solutions in order to become firmly established in decision-making by stakeholders.
#4 Shared intentions, but limited action so far.
There is broad consensus on the need to speed up: 87% of stakeholders believe that there is a need to go further. Stakeholders upstream in the value chain (architects and engineering firms) continue to be identified as drivers (56%, stable), and the expected momentum is based on cooperation between stakeholders rather than on a single leader.
However, for the third year running, practices are struggling to keep up. Only 32% of professionals routinely assess carbon footprints and 30% say they already carry out sustainable projects, compared with 55% who say that they “intend to do so”. Among elected officials, while sustainability remains an important criterion in the awarding of public contracts (86%), it has declined since the previous edition (98% in 2025). Among students and associations, good intentions still weigh heavier than taking action: 78% of students value training in sustainable construction, but only 5% would categorically refuse a job offer from a company that is not committed to sustainability. 24% of associations have already boycotted unsustainable projects, while 50% might do so in the future.
#5 Citizen buy-in as a driver to fast-tracking deployment?
The barometer also highlights the important role of citizens in accelerating the transition toward sustainable construction.
63% of citizens consider the development of more sustainable construction to be a priority, up 4 points from the previous edition. Citizens are also paying increasing attention to the health and well-being benefits for occupants: 19% of citizens now include this aspect in their definition of sustainable construction (up 4 points).
Furthermore, nearly one-third of citizens and stakeholders believe that raising public awareness is essential to stepping up progress.
Strengthening the visibility of the value created—particularly for building users—can therefore play a key role in accelerating adoption and scaling sustainable construction practices.
FAQ
1. About the Barometer
The Sustainable Construction Observatory publishes an annual international Barometer to inform both stakeholders and the wider public. It offers a global perspective on sustainable construction, exploring perceptions, barriers, drivers of progress, emerging solutions, and the stakeholders leading the way. By tracking these dynamics over time, it helps assess progress and pinpoint where collective efforts can have the greatest impact.
The Sustainable Construction Barometer is developed by Saint-Gobain’s Sustainable Construction Observatory and conducted by the research institute Occurrence-IFOP. Its purpose is to provide a global, data-driven understanding of how sustainable construction is perceived and implemented, in order to identify gaps, highlight emerging trends, and support the sector’s transition toward more sustainable practices.
The Sustainable Construction Barometer is an annual study conducted for Saint-Gobain’s Sustainable Construction Observatory and carried out by Occurrence–IFOP. It aims to track global perceptions and priorities around sustainable construction.
Since its launch in 2023, the Barometer has significantly evolved:
- Its geographical scope has expanded from 10 to 30 countries
- Sample sizes have increased, strengthening the robustness of insights
- New topics have been introduced, including resilience and the notion of value
- A citizen perspective has been integrated through key questions, alongside industry stakeholders
- And the qualitative dimension has been extended internationally
These developments allow the Barometer to provide a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of how sustainable construction is perceived across regions and audiences, while highlighting gaps, emerging priorities and levers for progress.
+3 new countries
- Kenya
- Malaysia
- Romania
+2 new questions
- The perceived value created (or not) by sustainable construction compared to traditional construction
- The reasons cited by respondents for wanting to ‘go backwards’ on sustainable construction
+1 qualitative study
An international qualitative study exploring perceptions of adaptation and resilience issues among financial stakeholders (commercial banks, development banks, insurers) across all world regions, based on 21 interviews.
2. Scope & coverage
The countries are distributed as follows:
- Africa: South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco
- North America: Canada, United States
- Latin America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico
- Asia-Pacific: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam
- Europe: Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Türkiye
- Middle East: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates
In the annexes of the Barometer, you will find 30 country focus reports providing an overview of the results for each country across the key indicators on sustainable construction perceptions.
3. Methodology
The quantitative study is based on two complementary populations across 30 countries: stakeholders and citizens.
- Stakeholders (4,800 respondents, 30 countries, aged 18 and over): self-administered online questionnaire (via the social networks of the target audience), broken down as follows:
- 1,500 professionals (construction and public works, architecture, housing, professional organizations in the building trades, energy, industry, construction waste management)
- 1,500 students (construction, building and public works, civil engineering, architecture, spatial design)
- 1,200 members of associations (ecological transition, housing, construction, energy, climate change, circular economy)
- 600 local elected officials or local government representatives (in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, in the absence of local elected officials, representatives of the public authorities were interviewed). Specific study method: questionnaire administered by telephone.
- Citizens (30,000 respondents, 30 countries, aged 18 and over): 1,000 individuals per country, a representative sample of the population of each country surveyed. Online omnibus questionnaire.
Comparing these perspectives helps identify perception gaps between those who shape the sector and those who experience it.
It reveals misunderstandings and opportunities to better align priorities, supporting more effective and inclusive decision-making.
4. Key insights & concepts
The 2026 Sustainable Construction Barometer highlights a clear gap between ambition and implementation. While sustainable construction is increasingly recognized as essential to address climate, resilience, and societal challenges, it is not yet systematically embedded in how projects are designed, financed, and evaluated.
As a result, its integration into operational decision-making remains uneven across regions and stakeholders. Key criteria such as cost, performance, timelines, and long-term risk exposure do not yet consistently include sustainable construction considerations.
Closing this gap, by making its benefits more visible, measurable, and central to decision-making, is identified as one of the most significant opportunities to accelerate the transformation of the sector.
Sustainable construction is a critical priority in response to many of today’s defining challenges, including population growth, social needs, energy demand, and climate change.
The built environment accounts for a significant share of global carbon emissions and energy consumption, making it a key lever for reducing environmental impact. At the same time, it plays a central role in improving quality of life, resilience to climate risks, and long-term economic value.
In the Barometer, sustainable construction refers to an approach that combines environmental performance, economic value, and social impact across the entire life cycle of buildings. It aims to reduce environmental footprints, enhance resilience to climate and other risks, and improve the health, safety, and well-being of occupants and workers, while ensuring long-term performance and value:
“Sustainable construction combines performance, sustainability and resilience: throughout its life cycle, it contributes positively to the health and well-being of people on jobsites and indoors, has a reduced environmental footprint over its whole life cycle, is resilient to extreme weather hazards, and delivers superior economic value and quality.”
5. Qualitative study: focus on adaptation and resilience
The qualitative study explores how financial institutions worldwide (commercial banks, development banks, and insurers) perceive the challenges of adaptation and resilience in the construction sector. It is based on insights gathered from 21 participants.
The research was conducted through semi-structured interviews lasting 45 to 60 minutes, carried out between November 29 and December 23, 2025, via videoconference or phone.
Adaptation:
Adaptation means changes made to a building, infrastructure, or project in order to adjust to new conditions (climatic, regulatory, technological, etc.).
Its goal is to make the built environment compatible with current or foreseeable changes.
Examples:
- Improving insulation to better withstand heatwaves or cold snaps.
- Elevating buildings in flood-prone areas.
- Using natural ventilation systems to reduce reliance on air conditioning.
- Use materials that are resistant to moisture or storms.
Adaptation can be reactive or proactive: it can be planned in advance or implemented in response to a change.
Resilience:
Resilience goes a step further: it means designing or adapting a building so that it can withstand shocks, absorb impacts, and quickly recover after disruption (caused by a natural disaster, an energy crisis, etc.).
It ensures the durability and functionality of the built environment, even during extreme or unforeseen events.
Examples:
- Hurricane-resistant structures.
- Redundant systems (electricity, water) to maintain supply during outages.
- Modular spaces that can be adapted to changes of use (e.g. to serve as shelters in a crisis).
- Energy self-sufficiency (solar panels, rainwater harvesting).
Resilience is a holistic approach: it takes multiple risks and scenarios into account, with a focus on longevity and the ability to bounce back. It combines climate adaptation, safety, and flexibility of use.
6. Other resources from the Sustainable Construction Observatory
You can explore a wide range of concrete examples on Constructing a Sustainable Future, the Sustainable Construction Observatory’s online media dedicated to sustainable construction. The media covers all aspects of sustainable construction, highlighting its impact on both the climate and society, while showcasing innovative solutions and inspiring projects from around the world.
You can explore the Sustainable Construction Action Paper published by Saint-Gobain’s Sustainable Construction Observatory. Building on the analysis and dialogue led by the Sustainable Construction Observatory since its creation in April 2023, it highlights six priority issues identified as the most transformative levers for change and outlines key priorities and actionable recommendations to accelerate the transition toward more sustainable construction practices worldwide. Rooted in a collective intelligence approach, it brings together insights from expert stakeholders, highlighting concrete levers for change across the entire value chain.
Explore the Sustainable Construction Action Paper