#BuildingLife II
Decarbonising Ireland’s built environment across its whole life cycle.
Project description
Construction and the built environment are responsible for 37% of Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions, the same as agriculture. Two-thirds of these emissions are operational carbon, from heating, lighting, cooling and powering our buildings. One third is embodied carbon associated with the construction, maintenance, and demolition of buildings, including the extraction, processing and transporting of building materials. Ireland cannot meet its climate targets without decarbonising the built environment across its whole life cycle. Building Life II aims to implement the IGBC’s Building A Zero Carbon Ireland roadmap, which aims to decarbonise Ireland’s built environment by 51% by 2030, and completely by 2050 – through a mixture of advocacy and industry engagement. Read more here. All relevant publications can be found at the bottom of this page.
Goal
Decarbonising Ireland’s built environment across its whole life cycle
Timeline
4 years – with progress updates for policy (policy scorecards) in 2023 and 2025, and progress updates for industry in 2024 and 2026. See our first policy scorecard and industry report.
Partners
Who Was Involved?
Funders
Who supported the project?
IGBC Team
Who Works On This?
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Lenny Antonelli
Lenny joined IGBC in 2024 supporting members in reducing whole life carbon in the built environment as part of the Building Life II campaign. With a background in environmental journalism, he previously wrote for Passive House Plus magazine and contributed to newspapers and magazines on environment, nature and science. He holds an undergraduate degree in Marine Science. -
Anna Daly
Anna joined IGBC in 2025 supporting advocacy campaigns for a more sustainable built environment, with a particular focus on Building Life II. She holds a BSc in Applied Social Science from the University of Galway and an MSc in Comparative Social Change from Trinity College Dublin and UCD, where her research explored the role of Irish local authorities in community-level climate action. -
Marion Jammet
Marion leads IGBC’s policy and advocacy work, developing position papers, engaging on consultations and draft legislation, and representing IGBC on the WorldGBC Europe Policy Task Force and Renovate Europe Committee. With a background in policy, stakeholder engagement and project management, Marion has worked on energy renovation projects across Europe. She previously held roles at Dublin Chamber, Eurochambres and the European Parliament. Marion holds an MA in European Affairs from Sciences-Po and an MSc in Environmental Sustainability from UCD. -
Irene Rondini
Irene joined IGBC in 2019, leading communications and dissemination across national and EU projects. Irene currently supports IGBC’s growing work on Biodiversity & the Built Environment and administered EPD Ireland programme from 2019 to 2024. With an MSc in Environmental Science and a Certificate in Digital Marketing, Irene brings a rare mix of technical and creative expertise, with previous experience as an EHS Officer and Web Specialist in the construction sector.
Latest Insights
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Building industry ready to decarbonise but needs support, guidance and regulation – new IGBC report shows
Dublin, 8th September 2025: The building industry stands ready to decarbonise, but needs support, clear guidance and ambitious… -
Developing an ambitious National Building Renovation Plan
Ireland has made significant progress on energy renovation in recent years, but a lot more work needs to… -
Cross-sector coalition calls for stronger action on vacancy & dereliction to deliver more housing
Dublin, 5 November 2025: Dedicated vacancy teams in local authorities, expanded reuse grants and a wider suite of…
How to Get Involved
Lenny Antonelli, lenny@igbc.ie
As part of the IGBC’s outreach to the industry, we regularly run workshops, focus groups and communities of practice, as well as hosting one-to-one conversations to support our members with decarbonisation. For more information, email Lenny.
Project
Related content
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Vacant To Vibrant Building Alliance – Final Recommendations
Recommendations to help meet the target of 300,000 new homes by 2030, supporting compact growth and vibrant urban living. -
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Net Zero Carbon Definitions
Guide for IGBC members and the broader Irish construction industry to voluntarily demonstrate NZC performance -
Building A Zero Carbon Ireland – Government Policy Scorecard
#BuildingLife Policy Scorecard - Full Report -
Building A Zero Carbon Ireland – Government Policy Scorecard Summary
#Building Life Policy Scorecard Summary -
Building a Zero Carbon Ireland
A Roadmap to decarbonise Ireland’s Built Environment across its Whole Life Cycle