World Green Building Trends 2021

The commitment to increasing green building efforts continues to remain strong. Respondents across the globe plan to intensify their green building engagement, with a 14-point growth in the share of those who intend to do the majority (more than 60%) of their projects green, from 28% doing so now in 2021 to 42% who plan to do so in the future. Respondents also expect to use more green building products and systems, with double- digit percentage point growth in six product categories, including building automation systems, thermal and moisture protection, waste management and the emerging use of mass timber structural systems. The findings also continue to demonstrate a compelling business case for building green. The average reduction in operating costs in the first 12 months for new green buildings is 10.5% and five-year operating costs savings is 16.9%. Green renovations and retrofits of existing buildings have even stronger performance globally at 11.5% and 17%, respectively. Owners report that green new buildings and renovation/retrofit projects increase the asset value of buildings by more than 9%.