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Planet

Foundations for a decarbonised tomorrow: shaping net zero cities

The path to a net zero future is paved with individual assets – residential and commercial buildings alike.

As we continue our journey to a net zero future, individual buildings set the foundation for transitioning to more sustainable urban environments. However, we cannot expect decarbonisation to remain a siloed process. The focus must expand from retrofitting or refurbishing individual assets towards transforming the ecosystems that support them.

We need to ask ourselves: how will decarbonisation change the future of our cities?

To achieve our net zero targets, we need to build urban ecosystems that integrate efficient buildings, intelligent infrastructure, and clean energy at scale. This is a systems challenge that will require us to rethink how we power and structure our urban spaces.

Three things that will be essential to our success?

High-performance buildings, smart and flexible infrastructure, and a decarbonised energy supply.

Brick-by-brick: creating high-performance buildings

When it comes to decarbonising buildings, we have four key strategies that shape how we approach every project. And with each of these strategies, we consider how our interventions will impact a city’s emissions profile.

Energy reduction

Building benefits: Reducing operational energy demand is our most immediate and cost-effective decarbonisation strategy. Improvements to building envelopes such as better insulation, improved glazing, and air sealing dramatically lower heating and cooling needs. Smart energy management systems, efficient lighting, and ventilation upgrades also help minimise consumption.

City considerations: These interventions not only cut emissions but also reduce the strain on the electrical grid. Energy reduction measures are often the most accessible starting point, particularly in retrofitting existing assets.

Low-carbon heat

Building benefits: Heating is one of the most carbon-intensive aspects of building operations. Replacing gas boilers with low-carbon systems – such as air-source or ground-source heat pumps – can eliminate direct fossil fuel use.

City considerations: These technologies run on electricity, shifting emissions upstream to the power grid. This makes grid capacity and cleanliness critical enablers of building decarbonisation. Where possible, we look to apply on-site renewable energy solutions. These solutions reduce the reliance on the electrical grid and minimise end users’ exposure to wholesale electrical price fluctuations.

Embodied carbon

Building benefits: Embodied carbon refers to the emissions generated from the extraction, processing, transport, and installation of building materials. This carbon contributes to a building’s total lifecycle emission, particularly in new builds.

City considerations: Low-carbon alternatives like mass timber, recycled steel, and carbon-reduced concrete are increasingly available, yet these material choices often involve trade-offs. For instance, better thermal performance can come at the cost of higher embodied carbon if denser materials are used. At scale, sourcing, transporting, or regulating these materials can place added pressure on city infrastructure and supply chains. Developers and planners must balance operational savings with upfront environmental costs, while also considering systemic impacts.

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Circularity

Building benefits: Circular design principles extend the useful life of buildings and materials, while minimising waste and the need for virgin resource extraction. This includes adaptive reuse of existing structures, designing for deconstruction, and incorporating salvaged or recycled components into new developments.

City considerations: Circularity also aligns with broader urban goals – supporting local supply chains, reducing landfill use, and encouraging innovation in material recovery and reuse. While often regarded as a more time and labour-intensive approach, circularity will be a key enabler of future-proof, low-carbon buildings.

Beyond the building: smart and flexible infrastructure

Yes, it begins with the building, but as more buildings adopt energy-efficient and electrified systems, the burden could shift to the urban grid. We need to consider how our cities must evolve to accommodate rising electricity demand while maintaining reliability and resilience.

Green infrastructure

Buildings are a part of the city’s ecosystem itself and should make use of their environmental context. Installing green infrastructure such as parks, greenways, and gardens improves building performance. For example, orienting buildings close to tree growth cools our cities and minimises heat gains within buildings, reducing the cooling need in the summer and maximising solar gain in the winter.

Intelligent infrastructure

With electrification, the grid will face the most immediate strain. Heat pumps, electric vehicles (EVs), rooftop solar, and battery storage are transforming how and when energy is used. Smart grids that integrate real-time monitoring, demand response, and decentralised energy resources are essential to manage this complexity. Cities must invest in digital infrastructure that can make their systems adaptive and efficient.

Transportation infrastructure

The transformation extends far beyond the grid. Transportation systems must evolve in parallel. Electrified public transit, improved walkability, and the expansion of cycling infrastructure can dramatically reduce transportation emissions. At the same time, urban planners must model transport needs around density, land use, and local behaviour patterns – ensuring that electrification aligns with spatial and social realities.

Effective governance

None of this is possible without effective governance. Local authorities control many of the levers that shape carbon outcomes – from land use and zoning to building codes and transport planning. These decisions define the density of cities, the accessibility of green infrastructure, and the design of future development.

Clean energy to feed the ecosystem: a decarbonized energy supply

Even the most efficient building or EV fleet won’t deliver climate results if powered by fossil fuels. As electrification accelerates, the carbon intensity of the grid will become the defining constraint as well as a defining opportunity.

To support citywide decarbonisation, the energy that powers our buildings and mobility must be clean, reliable, and scalable. This requires a systemic shift in energy production and delivery.

How do we improve our grid?

Retiring carbon intensive generation in favour of renewable energy.
Scaling up solar, wind, and geothermal, coupled with energy storage to manage intermittency.
Building low-carbon district energy systems that distribute heat more efficiently across neighbourhoods.
Integrating hydrogen and carbon capture for sectors that are hard to electrify.
Enabling community-level energy generation, such as microgrids and rooftop solar, to decentralise supply and increase resilience.

Cities can’t solve national grid decarbonisation alone, but they can shape demand profiles, invest in local generation, and advocate for clean energy infrastructure. Collaboration between urban governments, utilities, and private sector actors will be essential.

A net-zero city isn’t the sum of thousands of decarbonised buildings. It’s a deeply integrated system in which assets, infrastructure, and policies work together to deliver low-carbon living.

Decarbonisation starts with the building, but success depends on the grid that powers it, the mobility systems that connect it, and the governance structures that shape it. As we move from asset-scale interventions to citywide transformation, we must design not just for performance, but for alignment across every layer of urban life.

“There is not one easy solution to decarbonisation. All buildings and local environments differ. By getting the basics right first, optimising assets, making conscious decisions and working with nature, we will ensure a great environment for current and future city-users alike.”Rob Redfern, Associate Director, Decarbonisation & Green Energy

Decarbonisation starts with the building, but success depends on the grid that powers it, the mobility systems that connect it, and the governance structures that shape it.