– The economist guiding construction’s green shift
As the construction sector accounts for nearly 34% of global energy-related carbon emissions, World Green Building Council CEO Cristina Gamboa speaks with ROBBIE COUSINS about the WorldGBC’s approach to addressing the challenge of decarbonising the global construction industry.
In the fight against climate change, the built environment—the homes, offices, and infrastructure that shape our lives—stands as a critical battleground. Responsible for around a third of global energy-related carbon emissions, the construction sector is undergoing a rapid, fundamental transition. Guiding this transformation is the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC). led by its insightful CEO, Cristina Gamboa. Her journey, rooted in economics and academia, offers a powerful lens through which to understand the complex, multi-layered strategy required to decarbonise one of the world’s largest industries.
From economic theory to global action
Cristina Gamboa’s professional background is anything but conventional for a leader in the construction sector. She’s an economist, not an engineer or an architect, and she humorously refers to herself as a “recovering academic.” This foundation, however, is precisely what gives her leadership a potent edge. Her time in academia and her previous work forecasting economic trends and analysing foreign trade taught her a crucial lesson: the business community often holds the key to rapid, agile decision-making, even when navigating areas rife with complexity and imperfect information.
Gamboa sees her core talent as the ability to “break down complex issues into actionable spaces, creating value and opportunity to improve the quality of the world.” This skill set— translating immense environmental challenges into viable business opportunities—is vital for motivating an industry often perceived as slow to change.
Her journey into the green movement began in Colombia, one of the world’s most biodiverse nations. After serving as the economic advisor to Camacol Colombia, the country’s construction industry body, she saw the profound societal issues that needed tackling in her country.
For Cristina Gamboa, the opportunity to contribute to the nascent sustainability movement was a clear calling, a way to make a difference in a country whose natural richness needed protecting.
“I was there at the founding of the Colombian Green Building Council (GBC) in 2009, becoming its CEO. During this tenure, I saw firsthand the transformative power of the global network established by WorldGBC, which was founded in 2002. This influential, overarching body provided newly established GBCs with essential frameworks, good governance practices, and a wealth of information, enabling rapid growth.”
After serving five years on WorldGBC’s board of directors, Gamboa was recruited as its CEO in 2018. Her ascent confirms the organisation’s emphasis on finding leaders who can translate vision into scalable growth, positioning WorldGBC today, 23 years after its founding, as a mainstream body contributing across local and regional lines worldwide.
Green Building Councils: A Global, Growing Network
The sheer scale and recent velocity of the GBC network are a testament to the urgency felt by construction professionals globally.
She proudly exclaims, “We started 2025 with 74 GBCs across the world, the network is projected to exceed 85 by the end of the year. This level of growth is unprecedented in my time with the organisation, and signifies a powerful commitment from professionals to improve the state of the industry collaboratively.”
This remarkable expansion is occurring across all global continents and regions, demonstrating a truly universal consensus on the need for change.
However, growth requires careful stewardship.
“WorldGBC acts as the rigorous custodian of the movement’s integrity and effectiveness. When a new GBC forms, WorldGBC evaluates its governance structure, its official NGO status, and its cultural alignment with the global body. Crucially, we verify that the new council represents the whole value chain of the construction industry—from materials producers and designers to engineers, constructors, and investors. This holistic representation ensures that when a GBC speaks, it does so with the consensus and backing of the entire local industry ecosystem.”
The core mission of WorldGBC is two-fold. Firstly, it operates as an umbrella body that provides a platform for individual GBCs to exchange knowledge, collaborate on solutions, and move much quicker than they ever could acting in isolation. This collaborative space was, Cristina Gamboa says, the very reason she originally joined the board.
Secondly, WorldGBC provides global, authoritative leadership, identifying the global direction of travel for construction, informed by essential input from the regional bodies on the ground.
From global strategy to local impact
The WorldGBC’s operating model is one of “think global, act local”, facilitated by strong regional networks.
The second crucial step after establishing a new GBC is embedding the global strategy at a local level. WorldGBC doesn’t mandate; it provides the structure, offering non-financial resources for knowledge exchange and embedding global expertise to help define local and regional policies.
“This system is currently galvanised by major international initiatives. For instance, we put out unified Calls to Action across our network. The current call is centred around COP 30 in November, where a business action statement, signed up to by all GBCs, clearly articulates the global construction sector’s required pathway to align with the Paris Agreement’s target.”
The network’s true power is best seen in how it tackles complex, technical issues and drives them into legislative action. The work is structured around three key pillars:
– Providing a Collaborative Exchange Space: Allowing GBCs to share success stories, operational templates, and governance models.
– Tackling Topical and Technical Issues: Identifying common, scalable solutions to shared industry problems.
– Regional Network Alignment: Leveraging common regulatory frameworks, such as the European Union’s, to align positions on critical issues like sustainable finance, sufficiency, and whole life carbon.
Championing whole life carbon reduction
A prime example of global leadership translating into policy change is the work done on Whole Life Carbon (WLC). Historically, the focus of green building was heavily concentrated on operational emissions—the carbon footprint generated by a building’s energy use after it’s occupied. WorldGBC recognised that this only told half the story. The embodied carbon—the emissions generated in the extraction, manufacture, transportation, and construction of building materials—was largely overlooked, particularly when considering new builds.
Gamboa explains, “In 2019, we published a position paper urging the industry to bring embodied carbon up front. This paper established a clear hierarchy for addressing both operational and embodied emissions, culminating in the championing of WLC reduction—a concept that mandates considering all carbon emissions over the entire lifecycle of an asset, from cradle to grave. Through the network, this concept was successfully advocated for and is now a core part of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in Europe. This demonstrates WorldGBC’s ability to take a technical concept and move it from a niche position paper to binding regional legislation.”
This principle extends to materials, where WorldGBC works with coalitions on the circularity hierarchy. This is trickling down locally, directly changing how designers and developers procure materials, promoting secondary reuse and dramatically reducing reliance on raw, virgin resources. Simultaneously, WorldGBC collaborates with policymakers to help them establish the regulatory environment necessary for enabling these changes to occur at scale. “By showcasing viable, successful business cases from leading companies that have adopted commitments like the Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment, we reduce the perceived risk for other industry players and policymakers, demonstrating that sustainable construction is not difficult, but instead, viable.”
2030/2050 Goals and the Business Case for Decarbonisation
WorldGBC’s 2030/2050 commitments, launched in 2018, were designed to create a sense of clear, forward-looking vision and drive innovation. By setting ambitious goals, WorldGBC aimed to demonstrate to the industry what was possible, enabling leading companies to test the concept before regulation enforces it across the board. The results from the Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment cohort—which covers 25,000 assets worldwide—have been exceptionally encouraging.
Cristina Gamboa says, “A staggering 60% of signatories have already achieved a reduction in energy use intensity across their portfolios. Furthermore, over a third of these leaders have reported a decrease in emissions intensity by over 50% in just the first few years of the programme, aligning with the necessary global target of a 50% reduction by 2030 to be on the decarbonisation pathway. This cohort is not only succeeding in sustainability, but it is also thriving in business, proving conclusively that the path to a decarbonised sector is not only achievable but also commercially sensible.”
She asserts that slashing carbon directly cuts costs. “By reducing energy waste and enhancing efficiency from a whole lifecycle perspective, businesses procure innovative, high-performing materials and reduce operational expenses. To achieve the deep cuts required for embodied carbon, a circular economy route is the only way forward. This involves innovating to extend the life cycle of materials and drastically reducing the procurement of raw, virgin materials.”
Embracing frugalité and sufficiency
Cristina Gamboa paraphrases a colleague she recently attended a meeting with, who used the French word frugalité to describe the real meaning of circularity.
She explains, “A colleague I attended a meeting with recently perfectly encapsulated what is required to achieve true circularity. The essence of what they said was that circular thinking naturally leads to a profound philosophical shift, encapsulated by the term sufficiency or frugalité (frugality) in French. The core principle is simple: ‘If we have already built it, let’s not build again’. This concept challenges the industry’s historical tendency to overspecify materials or default to new construction when existing buildings could be upgraded.
“Bringing whole-life carbon thinking into the mix forces stakeholders to ask: ‘Why overspecify? Why use more material than necessary?’ Instead, the industry is shifting its focus to the full system’s performance and life cycle longevity. Ultimately, sustainability isn’t about compromise; it’s about achieving “better quality” in the built environment through intelligent, resource-respectful design and planning.”
The essential role of governments and policy
While the WorldGBC’s leadership programmes successfully attract industry pioneers, the reality is that voluntary desires alone cannot transform an entire global sector. For the transition to happen at the necessary scale, government action is paramount.
Gamboa explains, “Policy and regulation must set a clear framework for action and shoulder the direction of travel. This involves establishing clear timetables, improved standards, and robust accountability mechanisms. Such certainty is crucial for encouraging investment and spurring innovation from the broader industry. While voluntary commitments achieve impressive results with leaders, policy ensures that improvements in the quality of standards set a baseline across the board, compelling the rest of the market to catch up. Leaders will continue to push beyond this baseline, but policy provides the essential regulatory floor that prevents stagnation. If this clear direction isn’t provided, transformation simply won’t happen at scale.”
Best Tools
To translate the philosophy of whole life carbon and sufficiency into practice, the industry needs reliable metrics and tools. Gamboa highlights that metrics are the “backbone of everything we do and measure” and points to several key frameworks that help stakeholders understand the entire building life cycle, from design and material selection to construction, operation, and post-occupancy.
Key measurement frameworks
– Level(s) Framework: This open-source framework, developed by the European Commission and supported by the European Regional Network of GBCs, provides a common language for assessing and reporting building sustainability. Its strength lies in driving demand for better building performance across its life cycle.
– Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) / BER Certificates: Understanding how energy performance is measured is fundamental. As the goal is to achieve an ‘A’ rating for all buildings over time, these certificates provide the necessary baseline and metric for performance improvement.
– Building Certifications: Voluntary reporting, with certifications, plays a critical role in raising standards. Third-party validation, revision, and review processes offer transparency and a way to reduce risk and improve the quality of an asset.
– Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs): These documents provide the data necessary to understand the environmental footprint of materials, which directly links back to the Level(s) framework and the ability to reduce embodied carbon.
– Post-Occupancy Evaluations (POE): This is perhaps the most critical stage for closing the performance gap. You may design a building with one level of intent, but only by measuring the actual building performance after occupancy can you ensure that the design goals are met and lessons are learned for future projects.
Artificial Intelligence
Looking ahead, Cristina Gamboa sees Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a future accelerator. “While not every company needs to become an AI expert, platforms powered by AI will soon become ubiquitous, crunching the vast amounts of data—from LCAs, EPDs, and POEs—and helping the industry become more agile in its decision making.”
Irish leadership and the global trajectory
Gamboa says that Ireland has consistently demonstrated strong leadership, not just locally but within the broader European context.
“The Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) has pushed the envelope on government regulation and ambition, linking local action with global trends. Their leadership, when recently chairing the Europe regional network—representing 26 countries and over 5,000 members—gives them a very strong collective voice within the European Commission, influencing directives on sustainable finance and energy performance.
She adds that the IGBC’s development of Whole Life Carbon roadmaps has been instrumental, feeding into eight new roadmaps being developed by WorldGBC that are slated for announcement at COP 30.
“This Irish achievement provides certainty for driving conversations across the EU and helps emerging GBCs worldwide to leapfrog into action, having a greater impact in their regions.” Cristina Gamboa closes by mentioning three key priorities for Irish construction leaders to focus on.
Retrofitting first
“You must prioritise the business model for upgrading the existing building stock. This is one of the biggest wins, as it improves energy efficiency, enhances occupant comfort, and avoids unnecessary material use.”
Circular economy
“Prioritise materials reuse principles, reduction of waste, and designing buildings for longevity and adaptability.”
Data-driven action
“Finally, ensure the right data is available. Work with the IGBC to assess and achieve these principles, refine procurement and project planning, and develop clear company roadmaps.”
In Conclusion: Optimism, Velocity And Scale
In addition to being a recovering academic, Cristina Gamboa is definitely an optimist, but she remains pragmatic about the challenges ahead.
“While the built environment is now firmly on the climate strategy agenda—a huge step forward from just a few years ago—the sector, like all others, is currently not on track to halve emissions by 2030.
“The task at hand is to maintain the momentum and ensure the business community doesn’t step down from its leadership. This requires a refresh and alliance with governments to deploy solutions.
“A sustainable building”, she notes, “is a multi-benefit asset. It not only cuts emissions but lowers energy bills, creates jobs, and builds resilience that protects lives and livelihoods.”
The solutions are known, the business case is proven, and the network is growing.
Cristina Gamboa concludes, “The critical focus for WorldGBC now is to increase the velocity of the transition and achieve the necessary scalability of solutions, ensuring finance is mobilised to the right kind of assets to drive real, global, and equitable change.
WorldGBC Business Action Statement To Governments Ahead Of COP30
The COP30 outcome must accelerate the building sector’s sustainable transition in line with the Global Stocktake. The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and the global built environment business community are calling on the Member States of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for clear, coordinated government action.
Dan Ioschpe, COP 30 High-Level Climate Champion, comments, “The Global Stocktake has made clear where the biggest levers for climate action lie. Buildings are one of them. The voices of business leaders in this statement demonstrate not only that the solutions exist, but that with the right enabling environment, these solutions unlock major business growth opportunities. Investing in a resilient, zero-emission built environment is the right thing to do — also from an economic standpoint.”
Let COP30 be remembered as the summit that changed the rising tide of climate risk.
To read the full WGBC Business Action Statement, visit https://worldgbc.org/business-action-statement-cop30