Historical decarbonization of global commercial building operations in the 21st century

• Published in: Applied energy 2022-09, Vol.322, p.119401, Article 119401
• Main Authors: Xiang, Xiwang, Ma, Minda, Ma, Xin, Chen, Liming, Cai, Weiguang, Feng, Wei, Ma, Zhili
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Decarbonization strategy; Decomposing structural decomposition; End-use activities; Global commercial buildings; Operational carbon emissions
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119401

Contributions of different end-use activities to carbon intensity changes in global commercial building operations in (a) 2000–2010 and (c) 2010–2019; (b) impacts of different end-use activities on decarbonizing the operational carbon intensity across different countries in 2000–2019. [Display omitted] •The carbon intensity of commercial building operations in 16 economies declined 1.9 % yr−1 in 2000–2019.•Emission factors and industrial structure were the key to decarbonizing the building operations.•Energy intensity (e.g., heating: −14.3 kgCO2/m2/yr) has pushed global decarbonization since the 2010 s.•Decarbonization level in 16 economies was 230.3 MtCO2/yr with a decarbonization efficiency of 10.1%;•Electricity decarbonization will be critical to achieving global carbon neutrality in commercial buildings. Building operations will be the most critical step in completing the “last mile” of global carbon neutrality. To seek the best practical path to decarbonize commercial building operations, this study assesses the decarbonization progress of commercial building operations in 16 countries over the last two decades considering socioeconomic, technical, climatic and end-use factors through the decomposing structural decomposition method. The results reveal that (1) the average carbon intensity of commercial building operations in 16 countries has maintained an annual decline of 1.94% throughout the period 2000–2019, and emission factors and industrial structures were generally the key to decarbonizing commercial building operations; (2) energy intensity effects have started to promote global decarbonization in commercial building operations since 2010, with contributions from space heating [-14.33 kg of carbon dioxide per square meter per year (kgCO2/m2/yr)], service lighting (-5.29 kgCO2/m2/yr), appliances and others (-2.85 kgCO2/m2/yr), and space cooling (-1.24 kgCO2/m2/yr); and (3) the total decarbonization of commercial building operations worldwide was 230.28 mega-tons of carbon dioxide per yr, with a decarbonization efficiency of 10.05% in 2001–2019. Moreover, the robustness of this decarbonization assessment is tested using the typical index decomposition analysis and the decarbonization strategies of global commercial building operations are reviewed. Overall, this study assesses the global historical progress in decarbonizing commercial building operations and closes the relevant gap, and it helps plan the stepwise carbon neutral pathway of future