Affordable housing: A route to high impact climate mitigation & resilience solutions

Reall, innovators and investors of climate smart affordable housing, launch new climate policy brief to mark World Cities Day and the beginning of COP26, taking place 31 October – 12 November, in Glasgow.

The built environment contributes 39% of global greenhouse emissions, yet 70% of the buildings that will exist in Africa and Asia in 2050 are yet to be built. The opportunity to mitigate carbon emissions through green affordable housing, whilst also protecting the livelihoods of those most vulnerable to climate change, is huge.

Top take outs

• Providing affordable homes to over 1 billion people supports the goals of the Paris Agreement – There are enormous opportunities to advance sustainable solutions to the global housing deficit, supporting both climate and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) agendas
• Investing in net-zero affordable housing represents a $17 trillion untapped market opportunity for green investment
• Cost is no barrier to climate-smart and resilient affordable housing – International Finance Corporation (IFC) are demonstrating that green affordable housing can be delivered at an additional cost of between just 0 – 5%
• Only cities that are inclusive in their approach can be truly resilient – Investment to meet the needs of the most vulnerable reduces environmental footprints and strengthens urban systems and communities
• Scalable solutions are already at hand to achieve net-zero affordable housing – Local innovation, originality and creativity are evident across emerging markets in design, materials and placemaking

Reall’s recommendations

• Achieving mitigation – Affordable housing markets must decarbonise construction methods and supply chains, in order to directly support city-scale mitigation strategies and inclusion goals
• Building resilience – Appropriate construction methods and materials must be integrated within housing designs to ensure community resilience to climate shocks, as well as proper risk-assessment for vulnerable locations
• Scaling solutions – Global policy makers must incentivise the green transition, and support the unlocking of green finance for investment in the affordable housing sector

Read now: Achieving net zero and building resilience through affordable housing (PDF, 7 Pages, 2.3MB)

Read more:

• Find out how Reall are getting involved at COP26
• Read about Reall’s feature in IFC’s Business Case for Green Affordable Housing
• Read about Reall’s pledge to Race to Zero
• Find out about Reall’s affordable housing projects on our Data Dashboard
• Sign up for Reall Talk– our digital newsletter