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The building and construction sector is responsible for around 37% of global CO2 emissions, making it a priority sector for climate change mitigation. So far, decarbonisation efforts have focused on emissions from operation and maintenance (related mainly to energy used for heating, cooling, and lighting), which account for around two-thirds of a building’s life-cycle emissions. The emissions related to the production of materials and components, and demolition and waste management, have received less attention. UNEP and Yale University recently published a comprehensive report on how to tackle these emissions using an avoid-shift-improve approach. Avoid means reducing the need for materials, especially virgin materials, by reusing buildings and components, circular and resource-efficient design, and materials recycling. Shift means to replace carbon- intensive materials such as concrete and metals with wood and other biobased materials, which need to be sustainably produced or harvested. Improve means cutting the climate impact of all materials used – emerging production technologies for cement and steel have potential for substantial emission reductions.