The built environment is responsible for a large share of global emissions, making it one of the most important areas for climate action. Proven technologies and methods already exist that could reduce these emissions dramatically.
However, buildings and infrastructure are shaped by decisions made across many areas, including policy, finance, design, materials, construction, operation and reuse. This complexity makes the built environment one of the slowest sectors to change.
Progress depends not only on better technologies and methods, but on professionals who can understand the full system, work across disciplines, and apply sustainable solutions in real-world contexts. The transformation of the built environment depends on people with the right technical knowledge, practical skills and leadership capacity.
The missing link is skills and knowledge transfer. The skills gap is not limited to one profession or one technical area. It extends across the full value chain, from design, materials and building systems to regulation, climate risk, whole-life carbon assessment, retrofit and reuse. It also includes gaps in understanding between built-environment professions: how each sector works, what each needs to deliver, and the pressures and constraints each must manage.
Closing this gap requires learning that connects disciplines, regions and roles. It helps professionals understand each other’s priorities and limitations, build a shared language, and make better decisions together.
To help bridge this gap, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) and École nationale des ponts et chaussées (ENPC, France), together with universities in the Global South, have developed the Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Sustainability in the Built Environment.
Endorsed by, and directly supporting the mission of, the UNEP-hosted Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC), and aligned with the goals of the Déclaration de Chaillot and its Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate (ICBC), the programme will build skills and capacity across countries and stakeholders. It is designed to support the scientific, technical, economic and policy foundations needed to accelerate the transition to a near-zero-emission, efficient and climate-resilient buildings and construction sector.
About SBE/ExEd
SBE/ExEd — Sustainable Built Environment Executive Education — is part of the EPFL Centre for Worldwide Sustainable Construction (CWSC). It develops continuing education for professionals across the built environment, including architects, engineers and urban planners.
Its programmes combine academic knowledge with practical application, helping professionals turn sustainability research and innovation into action within their organisations and projects.
About CWSC
CWSC is an EPFL Centre of Excellence, created to tackle sustainable construction at an impactful global scale. It builds on EPFL’s well-established reputation across construction-related fields, notably cement-based materials, and works from EPFL’s Lausanne campus and from Fribourg, at the Smart Living Lab.
The Centre is growing quickly. Alongside its founding research chairs, six further research chairs are planned by 2030, bringing the total to ten and the team to an estimated 130 – 160 people. That growth is deliberate: it extends CWSC’s reach beyond cement and concrete into design, urban development, infrastructure, and the wider built environment.
