Up to 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) can be attributed to the “construction, maintenance and operation of buildings” area of activity. The goal of projects run by the International Energy Agency (IEA) is to reduce this as a contribution to limiting global warming.

While the basis for assessing GHG emissions in the life cycle of buildings was developed in the predecessor project IEA EBC Annex 72, the aim of IEA EBC Annex 89 is to develop and introduce implementation-oriented strategies and instruments for climate protection in the construction and building sector.

Research topics and the approaches pursued in this projects for Germany are

(1) timetables and step-by-step plans for the cross-sectoral reduction of GHG emissions in the field of action, definition of GHG emission targets and remining GHG emission budgets

(2) practical, targeted and legally secure requirements and verification procedures that can provide a national basis for the introduction of an environmental assessment in regulatory law;

(3) specific instruments for determining and influencing GHG emissions (planning and all decision-making processes of buildings in Germany)

(4) approaches to overcoming obstacles and strengthening the willingness to act among selected groups of actors, including im- real estate and finance.