Concepts and instruments for a sustainable construction sector

Sustainable development has been an internationally recognized aim since the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Its central challenges are the maintenance of social security and justice, sustainable economic development, and the preservation and creation of an intact environment. Looking at industrial sectors, the construction sector is of particular importance. On one hand, it makes a vital contribution to the social and economic development of every country by providing housing and infrastructure; on the other, this sector is an important consumer of non-renewable resources, a substantial source of waste, a polluter of air and water, and an important contributor to land dereliction. Material flows analyses for Germany, Japan and the United States show that the construction sector accounts for between onethird and one-half of commodity flows when expressed in terms of weight (Figure 1).1