Analysis of indirect greenhouse gas emissions from building infrastructure in the city of Zurich
Under the Paris Climate Agreement, Switzerland has committed to limiting global warming and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to net zero by 2050. Through a referendum, the city of Zurich has set itself the goal of reducing its direct emissions to net zero by 2040 and reducing its indirect emissions by 30% compared to 1990 levels.
This poses a significant challenge for the building sector, which directly and indirectly accounts for a significant proportion of GHG emissions. In order to implement the necessary transformation in the construction, renovation and operation of buildings, clear objectives are needed, specifically a target or reduction pathway. In order to plan, monitor and compare the reduction pathway, data bases, suitable guidelines and calculation bases are being created. The City of Zurich has already drawn up an emissions balance for the direct and indirect GHG emissions of the operational phase. For the building infrastructure (Scope 3 emissions) in the City of Zurich, only a rough estimate of the indirect GHG emissions is available. The City of Zurich's Environmental and Health Protection Department has therefore commissioned TEP Energy to use the building stock model to estimate construction activity in the City of Zurich from 1990 to the present day and possible future scenarios up to 2040, and to determine indirect greenhouse gas emissions.
To this end, the past development since 1990 and the current status of indirect GHG emissions from construction and renovation activities in the building sector are first calculated with the aid of numerous data sources. Based on this, the building stock model is used to simulate the future development of indirect GHG emissions until 2040 and with an outlook for 2040 for three scenarios. We take into account various measures such as changes in construction types, extending the service life of building components, reducing space requirements and reducing emission factors. From this, we can figure out the feasibility and the necessary conditions and measures for the objectives in the city's various fields of action, as well as target and reference values for different building categories.
The project builds on the methodology and models used in the Net Zero Greenhouse Gasemissions in Buildings project and will be substantially developed further in this project for the city of Zurich.
Project information
Project durationMay- November 2025
Contact at TEP EnergyMartin Jakob, Marc Melliger
Contracting partyStadt Zürich
Support groupUGZ, AFS, AHB, EB of the city of Zurich
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