GBDI Global Building Data Initiative

The Global Building Data Initiative (GBDI) leverages data to inform industry and policy action for reducing resource use and upfront embodied carbon of new buildings. The initiative seeks to assess the current status quo through building data analysis and benchmarking, promote consistent target setting, and inform effective decarbonization actions. By empowering decision-makers in industry and policy, the initiative will drive decarbonization action for buildings considering a whole life-cycle approach. The initiative is implemented under the umbrella of GLOBE - The Global Consensus on Sustainability in the Built Environment. The initiative aims for a global assessment of resource use and embodied carbon of new buildings, with special attention to involvement of crucial Global South regions. It has developed a coordinated, open, and scalable data protocol and the technical infrastructure required for global data collection and analysis. The initiative will start with a focus on assessing resource use and upfront embodied carbon of structural systems, considering future scalability and extendibility towards a whole life cycle and whole building perspective in future phases.