Buildings are the world’s biggest asset class and contribute nearly 40 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity. Yet less than 4 percent of climate philanthropic money goes to funding the transition to sustainable buildings. With its importance – to markets, people, and climate – why does the built environment get so little attention from climate philanthropy?

Last week the first ever Buildings and Climate Global Forum was hosted in Paris by President Macron’s government. Ministries from 70 world governments – nearly 1,500 delegates in total – came together under one banner: kickstart delivery of a worldwide breakthrough to make near-zero emissions and climate resilient buildings the new normal by 2030.

The Forum – which covered the environmental, social, and financial factors needed for this transition – represents a potential tipping point for the built environment. It’s an opportunity to finally see a ‘Buildings Breakthrough,’ nearly nine years after the first ever ‘buildings day’ at COP21 in the same city in 2015. It has been a long journey to get here, and there is further to go.

Buildings are estimated to be worth $326 trillion worldwide, yet their social value is too often forgotten. Housing is a fundamental human right, but the reality is it can also be uncomfortable, unequal, or even damaging to personal health. Approximately 1.8 billion people around the world are either homeless or live in grossly inadequate housing, often without access to basic services like water, sanitation, or electricity. The world has a building stock of dwellings from the past century that burn fossil fuels and leak heat. Tackling building decarbonisation can thus be a win for people too.

We are not, however, on track for a just transition in the built environment, because it has received too little historic attention from policy makers and too little funding from philanthropy. A recent study by ClimateWorks shows that of the $1.7bn spent on climate philanthropy, only $80m is spent on building transition – with limited coordination and co-funding.  Nearly 40 percent of emissions but less than 4 percent of the funding. We can change this.

Philanthropy can play a special role in catalysing change in complex systems and sectors. No other sector has the capacity or resource to set in motion the creativity, purpose, and clarity to solve systemic problems – such as the transition of the built environment. That’s why last week, just before the Forum, the IKEA Foundation and Laudes Foundation assembled a group of global climate philanthropies wanting to tackle the buildings challenge.

For both Laudes Foundation and the IKEA Foundation, the built environment is a core part of the work to accelerate corporate transition to meet the 1.5°C global warming limit.  Buildings are at the nexus of governance, the real economy, finance, and people – areas the IKEA Foundation is working on to meet the climate targets set in the Paris Agreement in 2015. Laudes has a track record of over four years of significant investments in built environment partners.

Read the full article about climate philanthropy for sustainable buildings by Liz McKeon and Amol Mehra at Alliance Magazine.