Saint-Gobain has launched the 4th edition of its global Sustainable Construction Barometer, offering fresh insights into how citizens, industry stakeholders, and financial institutions perceive sustainable construction, and the barriers still slowing its adoption worldwide.

Spanning 30 countries and drawing on input from 4,800 stakeholders and 30,000 citizens, the Barometer is one of the most comprehensive global studies of its kind. This year’s findings point to a clear shift: resilience and adaptation are becoming central to how sustainable construction is understood across markets.

A Global Study with Strong African Relevance

While the Barometer captures global trends, its findings resonate strongly in Africa, where rapid urbanisation and exposure to climate-related risks are shaping construction priorities.

New to the 4th edition, Kenya joins South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco, strengthening the continent’s representation and providing a more nuanced view of regional perspectives.

Across citizens and stakeholders surveyed in Africa, sustainable construction is most commonly defined as the ability of buildings to withstand climatic and environmental shocks, highlighting the growing importance of durability and resilience in local contexts.

From Awareness to Integration

The global results reveal a growing consensus: sustainable construction is increasingly recognised as essential. However, the study also uncovers a persistent gap between awareness and implementation.

Despite this recognition, resilience is not yet consistently embedded in investment decisions, development strategies, or large-scale construction planning: a trend reflected both globally and within African markets.

New Insight: The Role of Finance

For the first time, the Barometer includes a global qualitative study with banks, development finance institutions, and insurers, exploring how resilience and adaptation are factored into investment decisions.

The findings show that while the financial sector acknowledges the importance of resilient construction, it remains difficult to translate these considerations into credit models and capital allocation frameworks.

The Key Barrier: Demonstrating Value

Across all regions, stakeholders point to a common challenge:
The lack of clear, measurable return on investment for resilience and adaptation.

Unlike carbon reduction, where standardised metrics are widely used, resilience is often associated with long-term and indirect benefits, such as reduced future losses, business continuity, and asset value preservation.

Encouragingly, sentiment is shifting. In Africa, 51% of stakeholders surveyed believe sustainable construction delivers greater value than traditional methods, pointing to growing recognition of its economic potential.

Unlocking the Transition

The Barometer identifies three priority levers to accelerate adoption globally:

• Making the benefits of sustainable construction more tangible
• Guaranteeing performance for end users
• Demonstrating the economic competitiveness of solutions

Financial institutions are expected to play a central role in scaling progress. In Africa, access to appropriate financing could help improve the competitiveness and uptake of sustainable construction materials and solutions.

Saint-Gobain Driving the Conversation Forward

With the 4th Sustainable Construction Barometer, Saint-Gobain continues to play a leading role in facilitating the global dialogue on sustainable construction, while supporting regions such as Africa in translating global insights into locally relevant action.