ULI Europe launches decarbonization roadmap for affordable housing

ULI Europe's "C Change for Housing" program has launched an interactive systems map and report to help the real estate industry accelerate the decarbonization of both existing and new affordable housing. 

Housing - ULI Europe

This initiative aims to tackle the dual challenges of climate change targets and worsening housing affordability in Europe.
Building on ULI's broader C Change program, "C Change for Housing" specifically targets reducing emissions from affordable homes. This sector faces unique difficulties, such as old, inefficient buildings leading to high energy costs for residents, tight budgets making retrofits hard to finance, and market trends favouring new, carbon-intensive construction over renovation. 
Developed with input from over 120 experts, the new systems map clarifies the complex landscape and identifies deep-seated barriers to decarbonising affordable housing. These barriers include limited adoption of low-carbon innovations, fragmented planning, inconsistent incentives, short-term investment views, skill shortages, and underutilised land.
The map is designed to highlight the most effective areas for change and will be a dynamic resource, open to industry feedback. The program emphasises that decarbonising affordable housing requires a holistic approach, considering urban planning, finance, construction, and the entire value chain.
In response to these challenges, C Change for Housing has identified twelve high-impact intervention areas, grouped under five themes, to transform current practices and speed up decarbonization:
Strategic foundations: Optimising land use, integrating planning, and standardising definitions and measurements.
Collaboration and knowledge sharing: Enhancing public-private-civic partnerships, fostering community involvement, and promoting system-wide knowledge exchange.
Finance and business: Redefining the business case, unlocking financial solutions, and aligning investment with long-term community needs.
Delivery and innovation: Diversifying delivery and reuse models, leveraging low-carbon innovation, and investing in value chain upskilling.
The program will initially focus on "Redefining the business case," "Establishing universal definitions and measurement," and "Leveraging low-carbon innovation," though these priorities may evolve.
This mapping exercise is the first phase, moving now from insights to mobilising the real estate industry to co-develop, test, and scale solutions through workshops over the next year.