CO2 emissions are a major cause for climate change. Its footprints figure heavily in the construction industry, in the production of materials, in the construction process, and in the use and life span of buildings. The CO2 equivalent tables show that in sum total, buildings cause almost half of the annual global CO2 emissions worldwide.

Obviously, architecture is not an observer but an agent in all these matters. Therefore, it has got to be an agent, too, in fighting climate change. Architecture must be a driving force in eliminating all CO2 emissions from the built environment.

The history of architecture bears witness to the fact that built structures can be beautiful, durable, scalable/replicable, and serving a specific purpose or responding to a specific need – and at the same time be almost CO2 neutral in their construction and use.

For the 2022 OBEL AWARD, we are looking for contemporary or high-tech projects that are low or zero emissions, including embodied emissions, in response to the most important and pressing political issue of today; the climate crisis.