Global demand for green buildings grows

A study by Dodge Data & Analytics shows that global demand for sustainable buildings will double by 2018. The research, carried out with the support of United Technologies Corporation and the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC), reports that the anticipated growth will be driven by developing green markets, such as Mexico, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, China and India.

The report, World Green Building Trends 2016, Developing Markets Accelerate Global Green Growth, finds that the percentage of companies expecting to have more than 60 percent of their building projects certified green will more than double by 2018, from 18 to 37 percent.

Other key findings from the report include: 

• Global green building continues to double every three years.

• Brazil expects six-fold growth in the percentage of companies that expect to certify the majority of their projects green; five-fold growth is expected in China; and four-fold growth is expected in Saudi Arabia (from 8 percent to 32 percent).

• Building owners report seeing a median increase of 7 percent in the value of their green buildings compared to traditional buildings.

• The most widely reported benefit globally
is lower operating costs.

• The top sector for green building growth globally is commercial construction, with nearly half (46 percent) of all respondents expecting to do a green commercial project in the next three years.

• Reducing energy consumption continues to be the top environmental reason for building green (selected as one of the top two reasons by 66 percent of all respondents), protecting natural resources ranked second globally (37 percent), and reducing water consumption ranks third (at 31 percent). 

The study is available online here.

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