Africa’s builders get a resilience wake-up: 51% see higher value now
French multinational company, Saint-Gobain has launched the fourth edition of its global Sustainable Construction Barometer, revealing a growing shift in how sustainable building is understood and prioritised across markets.
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Spanning 30 countries and informed by insights from 4,800 stakeholders and 30,000 citizens, the study highlights resilience and adaptation as increasingly central to construction thinking.
While awareness of sustainable construction continues to grow, the findings also point to persistent barriers slowing implementation, particularly around financing, investment decisions and demonstrating measurable value.
While the Barometer captures global trends, its findings resonate strongly in Africa, where rapid urbanisation and exposure to climate-related risks are shaping construction priorities.
New to the 4th edition, Kenya joins South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco, strengthening the continent’s representation and providing a more nuanced view of regional perspectives.
Across citizens and stakeholders surveyed in Africa, sustainable construction is most commonly defined as the ability of buildings to withstand climatic and environmental shocks, highlighting the growing importance of durability and resilience in local contexts.
From awareness to integration
The global results reveal a growing consensus: sustainable construction is increasingly recognised as essential. However, the study also uncovers a persistent gap between awareness and implementation.
Despite this recognition, resilience is not yet consistently embedded in investment decisions, development strategies, or large-scale construction planning: a trend reflected both globally and within African markets.
New insight: the role of finance
For the first time, the Barometer includes a global qualitative study with banks, development finance institutions, and insurers, exploring how resilience and adaptation are factored into investment decisions.
The findings show that while the financial sector acknowledges the importance of resilient construction, it remains difficult to translate these considerations into credit models and capital-allocation frameworks.
Stakeholders across all regions identified a common challenge: the lack of a clear and measurable return on investment for resilience and adaptation. Unlike carbon reduction, where standardised metrics are widely used, resilience was found to be more difficult to quantify, as its benefits are often long-term and indirect, including reduced future losses, improved business continuity, and the preservation of asset value.
Encouragingly, sentiment is shifting. In Africa, 51% of stakeholders surveyed believe sustainable construction delivers greater value than traditional methods, pointing to growing recognition of its economic potential.
The Barometer identified three priority levers to accelerate global adoption, including making the benefits of sustainable construction more tangible, guaranteeing performance for end users, and demonstrating the economic competitiveness of available solutions.
It further indicated that financial institutions are expected to play a central role in scaling progress. In Africa, it noted that improved access to appropriate financing could enhance the competitiveness and uptake of sustainable construction materials and solutions.
With the 4th Sustainable Construction Barometer, Saint-Gobain continues to play a leading role in facilitating the global dialogue on sustainable construction, while supporting regions such as Africa in translating global insights into locally relevant action.