Growth in global demand for 'green' office buildings slows amid Trump policies
Source: The Guardian
Sun 9 Nov 2025 19.01 EST
The growth in global demand for “green” office buildings has slowed after Donald Trump’s assault on environmental protection policies caused a slump in interest in the US, according to a survey of construction industry professionals.
Building occupiers and investors across North America and South America expressed significantly lower growth in demand for green commercial buildings, a shift that “seems to be in response to a change in US policy focus”, according to a survey of members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics). Reported demand across the rest of the world also fell, albeit not as sharply.
Residential and commercial buildings together accounted for 34% of global carbon emissions in 2023, according to the UN Environment Programme. The majority of those emissions came from heating, cooling and powering buildings, although about a fifth came from construction. The UN said there was a “critical need for accelerated action in the buildings sector to meet global climate goals”. However, the Rics survey suggested global construction industry professionals were experiencing slower growth in demand.
Green buildings can use a range of techniques to cut their environmental impact, ranging from using materials that reduce high-carbon concrete, to cutting water use, cutting heat lost through windows, and using renewable energy. Energy efficiency improvements in particular also help to cut operating costs.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/10/growth-in-global-demand-for-green-office-buildings-slows-amid-trump-policies
During the period when Obama's ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) was in effect, my federal work building was undergoing renovations funded by that and got all new energy-efficient windows and a green roof. The upper stories of the building were completely encased in scaffolding and I remember keeping my blinds down as the guys working out there were walking back and forth peeping in and one even had a radio blaring (I think even at one point, playing Village People's "Macho Man" ). We were all cracking up.
