Prioritising Existing Buildings for People and Climate: Sufficiency as a strategy to address the housing crisis, achieve climate & resource targets and revitalise communities | Lisa Graaf et al. | ResearchPod

Transcript: Prioritising Existing Buildings for People and Climate: Sufficiency as a strategy to address the housing crisis, achieve climate & resource targets and revitalise communities

Alex: Welcome to another episode of ResearchPod.

Sam: Today we're looking at a paper that asks a straightforward but often overlooked question: before we build more, should we be making better use of what we already have?

Alex: That sounds almost too simple. What's the actual argument?

Sam: The paper's core claim is that buildings carry two kinds of climate burden. One comes from the energy used every day — heating, cooling, lighting. The other comes from making the building in the first place: digging up raw materials, manufacturing them, transporting everything to the site, and eventually dealing with the waste when the building comes down. When you add both together, you get what the paper calls "whole life carbon" — the full climate cost of a building across its entire existence.

Alex: So policy that only focuses on energy bills is missing half the picture?

Sam: More than half, in some cases. And here's the key mechanism: if we keep adding new buildings, or keep expanding floor space per person, we keep generating that upfront burden. Even if each new building is more efficient than the last, the total resource use can still rise. It's like buying a more fuel-efficient car every two years — if you're also driving more, the savings can disappear.

Alex: So efficiency alone isn't enough?

Sam: That's the paper's central tension. It distinguishes between two very different strategies. Efficiency means doing the same thing with less waste — like a better-insulated wall that keeps heat in. Sufficiency means asking whether you needed that much space in the first place. The paper groups these alongside a third strategy — switching to cleaner energy sources — and argues that all three matter, but they're not interchangeable. Sufficiency is the one that actually reduces demand before it starts.

Alex: Can you give me a concrete sense of what sufficiency looks like in practice?

Sam: Think about a large house where two of the four bedrooms are rarely used. That space still needs to be heated, maintained, and was built using real materials. The paper calls this underoccupancy — having more space than you actually need. Its argument is that this kind of unused space represents a significant untapped opportunity, because those buildings already exist. Using them better can reduce pressure for new construction while still meeting genuine housing needs.

Alex: But if people need homes, how can reusing existing buildings be enough?

Sam: The paper isn't saying new construction should never happen. It proposes a decision order. First, preserve and renew existing buildings. If that's not enough, adapt or expand them. Only then consider building new — and even then, apply sufficiency principles. The logic is simple: start with the least resource-heavy option that still meets real needs.

Prioritising Existing Buildings for People and Climate: Sufficiency as a strategy to address the housing crisis, achieve climate & resource targets and revitalise communities

Lisa Graaf, Emily Bankert, Zsolt Toth, Caroline Milne, Oliver Rapf, Liz Eve

Jul 4, 2026·5:37·user_upload

SufficiencyEmbodied and Operational CarbonFloor Area GrowthSystemic Policy ApproachWhole Life Carbon (WLC)Embodied Emissions

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6 min

Briefing

The Case for Building Sufficiency

Existing building policies in the EU have largely focused on energy efficiency and technological upgrades. However, the authors argue that these measures are insufficient because they fail to address the underlying growth in floor area per capita, which continues to outpace population growth. This trend leads to increased resource consumption and land sealing, offsetting the gains made by energy-efficient technologies. The paper introduces 'sufficiency' as a necessary strategic shift: instead of focusing solely on how we build, we must focus on how we use the space we already have.

A New Framework for Policy

To move beyond the current focus on operational carbon, the authors advocate for a Whole Life Carbon (WLC) perspective. This approach accounts for the significant emissions generated during the construction and material production phases—embodied carbon—which are often ignored in traditional policies. By prioritizing the existing building stock, policymakers can avoid the massive carbon footprint associated with new construction. The paper proposes a 'decision-making pyramid' that ranks interventions, placing the preservation, renovation, and repurposing of existing buildings at the top, while treating new construction as a last resort.

Linking Social and Climate Goals

Sufficiency is presented not just as an environmental strategy, but as a social one. By addressing under-occupancy and vacancy, cities can provide affordable, high-quality housing without the environmental cost of new development. The authors emphasize that sufficiency operates as a 'dual dimension': it acts as a minimum standard to ensure decent living conditions for all, and a maximum standard to prevent overconsumption. This aligns with the 'doughnut economics' model, which seeks to meet human needs within the limits of the planet's ecological ceiling.

Key Terms and Definitions

Sufficiency — A strategy that avoids the demand for energy, materials, and land by optimizing the use of existing buildings to deliver human well-being within planetary boundaries.
Whole Life Carbon (WLC) — The total greenhouse gas emissions associated with a building throughout its entire lifecycle, including material extraction, construction, operation, and end-of-life disposal.
Embodied Carbon — The carbon emissions associated with the production, transport, and installation of building materials, which are released before a building is even occupied.
Operational Carbon — The greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the energy consumed during the daily use of a building, such as heating, cooling, and lighting.
Under-occupied Homes — Residential units that contain more rooms than the minimum considered adequate for the household size, representing a potential for more efficient space utilization.

Prioritising Existing Buildings for People and Climate: Sufficiency as a strategy to address the housing crisis, achieve climate & resource targets and revitalise communities: Research Paper Podcast