The construction sector is one of the world's largest consumers of resources and contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Transforming how buildings are designed, constructed, used and reused is therefore essential to achieving more sustainable and resilient societies.
UNU Resource Nexus contributes to this transformation through interdisciplinary research within the Cluster of Excellence CARE – Climate-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Construction. By connecting scientific innovation with practical solutions, the collaboration supports the development of more sustainable and circular approaches to the built environment.
Over four days, members of the UNU Resource Nexus team participated in the CARE Autumn Retreat in Hannover. The retreat brought together researchers and partners from across disciplines to exchange knowledge, explore emerging research findings and identify opportunities for future collaboration. Through guest lectures, project updates and interactive discussions, participants reflected on shared challenges and opportunities in advancing climate-neutral and resource-efficient construction.
As part of its contribution to CARE, UNU Resource Nexus is involved in three complementary research initiatives that address different dimensions of sustainability in the construction sector:
SustainFrame: Measuring What Matters
How can sustainability be assessed more holistically? SustainFrame advances integrated approaches to sustainability assessment, helping to better understand the environmental, economic and social dimensions of construction. The project contributes to the development of frameworks that can support more informed decision-making in the transition towards sustainable built environments.
🔗 https://www.exc-care.de/research/research-projects/sust_frame/
SlAsh-CO₂: Turning Industrial Waste into a Resource
What if industrial residues could help capture CO₂ while reducing the need for conventional cement materials? SlAsh-CO₂ explores the potential of lignite fly ash as both a carbon sink and a supplementary cementitious material. By investigating new applications for industrial by-products, the project seeks to advance resource efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of construction materials.
HØW-GENIUS: Decoding the DNA of Circular Construction
Building on the global House of No Waste ideas competition, this early-career seed-funded project analyses 225 project submissions to identify emerging strategies and innovations in circular construction. The project aims to transform a diverse collection of ideas into structured knowledge that can inform future research, professional practice and policy development.
Together, these initiatives connect sustainability assessment, material innovation and circular design, reflecting the interdisciplinary spirit of CARE and a shared commitment to advancing more sustainable construction systems. Their combined insights contribute to understanding how resource-efficient and circular approaches can be scaled to support broader sustainability goals.
UNU Resource Nexus looks forward to building on the ideas, discussions and partnerships emerging from the Hannover retreat and to strengthening research collaborations that support the transition towards climate-neutral and resource-efficient construction.
