Climate change is one of the biggest drivers of nature street. Therefore, reducing emissions also serves nature.

The lion's share (76%) of the carbon footprint of buildings comes from energy consumption during their use.

New buildings are already being made energy efficient. Since our building stock is renewed only a couple of percent per year, energy renovations of existing buildings are the most effective way to cut emissions.

During the construction phase, the carbon footprint can be reduced the most by using as durable and low-emission building materials as possible.

The Hiilipihi building is both climate and nature-made.

(Source: Statistics Finland's climate accounting (combined emissions from construction and energy consumption in buildings)

The majority of the natural resources consumed in construction are earth and stone materials, which are needed e.g. for making concrete, building roads and foundation works for houses.

They can be reused and replaced by industrial side streams. This reduces the need for raw materials taken directly from nature.

About 80% of concrete ends up in Finland for recycling, primarily as crushed stone. It replaces virgin aggregates in earth and water construction.

Nature is saved the most when buildings and infrastructure are kept in use for a long time.

(Source VN: Material flows of the Finnish national economy and their effects)

Construction waste is often a valuable resource and not waste at all.

About 90% of construction waste is soil masses that are left over when the soil is excavated and moved. They are used in other civil engineering.

The rest of the tenth is other construction and demolition waste. Almost 60% of house construction waste is used as material.

Currently, the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill is 10%. It is minimized by careful handling of the materials and sorting of the surplus, so that the materials can be reused as much as possible.

(Source: Statistics Finland's StatFin waste statistics)