Climate implications of increasing bio-based construction materials in Thailand’s residential building stock

The buildings and construction sector significantly contributes to global emissions, necessitating reduction efforts to comply with the goal of containing global warming under 2°C. Southeast Asia, especially Thailand, with its high urbanization rate, faces substantial emission challenges in its construction practices. Thailand predominantly uses concrete frame construction, and the cement industry is the largest contributor of GHG emissions in the industrial sector, with 19.3 MtCO2eq in 2018.

This research project aims to explore the possibility of reducing GHG emissions from Thai building stocks by study construction technique that minimized the use of steel and concrete and replace them with bio-based materials. Life Cycle Assessment is the primary tool to calculate the GHG emissions of the case study buildings.