Digitalization of the built environment

Digitalization brings business opportunities as well as the potential to improve the sustainability performance of the buildings and construction sector. Despite these promising benefits, the sector has been slow to fully adopt emerging digital technologies.

Together with member companies, WBCSD has developed this report to support the deployment of digital tools in the built environment and accelerate the much-needed shift to sustainability. It outlines several actions that companies, as well as governmental and institutional actors, can take to trigger the integration of digitally enabled sustainable practices.

The report offers insights into the challenges associated with digitalization that companies in the built environment might face and solutions and best practices for overcoming them. Initially, the digital transition requires a cultural shift, where value rather than cost is emphasized, and long-term improvements are prioritized over short-term objectives. The research also explains how digital tools facilitate emissions reduction and circularity of buildings by enabling efficiency, collaboration and knowledge transfer from one construction phase to the next.